DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it every bit it deserves. Picture East Texas, 1845. The Republic of Texas — still young, still figuring out what it wants to be — sits down and does something ambitious.
It charters Nacogdoches University. Not a schoolhouse, mind you. A university.
Because the settlers out in East Texas had ideals about higher education, and they weren't the kind of people who kept ideals quietly. Now, for a stretch of years, that university made do. It wandered through various downtown buildings the way a river wanders before it finds its bed.
But the citizens of Nacogdoches had a vision, and visions eventually demand bricks. So they reached into their pockets — and when the pockets ran thin, they reached into their pantries. Money, yes, but also materials, land, labor, and foodstuffs.
Neighbors building a university the way neighbors used to build things, together. The man they hired to make it real was a contractor named John H. Cato.
Cato started the work, but it was J. H. Muckleroy who carried it to the finish line, and when the dust settled, the final cost came to ten thousand five hundred dollars.
In return for that sum, Nacogdoches got something that would outlast every argument about whether it was worth it. The building was completed in time for classes in the fall of 1859. Now let me tell you what they built, because this is where the story gets architectural and the architecture gets theatrical.
It is a two-story loadbearing masonry building, the bricks made right there on-site from local clay, common bond red brick the color of East Texas earth. The floor plan is rectangular, disciplined, dignified. Narrow four-over-four windows march along both floors.
Three bays at the entrance, six bays down each side, all divided by brick pilasters standing at attention like sentries. And then there's that portico. Massive Doric columns rising off plinth blocks, a broad entablature overhead, and a deeply recessed pediment behind it all — Greek Revival Classicism of the early and mid-nineteenth century, executed in a pine forest in East Texas with bricks dug from local ground.
The main entrance carries solid paneled doors with a tall transom and sidelights to let the morning in. Up top, the gabled roof is crowned by an octagonal frame cupola with a bell roof, and capping all of that — a carved finial, like a period at the end of a very well-constructed sentence. It is, as the marker says, a fine example of its style, and standing in front of it you'd have a hard time arguing otherwise.
But a building like this doesn't just sit still and look pretty. History has a way of pressing buildings into service. When the Civil War came to East Texas, this temple of learning became a Confederate hospital.
Men who had come to study found the halls turned to suffering instead. And then, during Reconstruction, a Federal regiment moved in and made it their headquarters. The same columns, the same pediment, the same red brick — witness to a nation tearing itself apart and then, slowly, awkwardly, trying to piece itself back together.
The university held on. The building served it until 1904, when it was deeded to the Nacogdoches Independent School District, and it kept right on being a school, kept right on educating, all the way into the 1960s. Then its care passed to the Nacogdoches Historical Society, and later to the Federation of Women's Clubs, who saw to its restoration.
Today the old building is open for community functions and houses a small museum dedicated to education in Nacogdoches. The Texas Historical Commission placed its marker here in 1962. A university chartered by a republic, built by a community with whatever they had to give, pressed through war and occupation and reconstruction and a century of school bells — and still standing.
That right there is what ten thousand five hundred dollars and a town's determination can build, if you give it enough time.
What the marker says
The Republic of Texas chartered Nacogdoches University in 1845 to fulfill East Texas settlers’ ideals for higher education. The University occupied various downtown buildings before this building was completed in time for classes in fall 1859. Local citizens underwrote the project with donations of money, materials, land, labor and foodstuffs. During the Civil War the structure served as a Confederate hospital and functioned as a headquarters for a Federal regiment during Reconstruction. The building served the University until deeded to the Nacogdoches Independent School District in 1904. It continued as an educational facility until the 1960s when its care and use became the charge of the Nacogdoches Historical Society and later the Federation of Women’s Clubs. After restoration, the structure became available for community functions and now houses a small museum dedicated to education in Nacogdoches. The temple style of the building is a fine example of Greek Revival Classicism of the early and mid-19th century. The original contractor was John H. Cato, with the work completed by J. H. Muckleroy at a cost of $10,500. The two-story loadbearing masonry building features common bond red brick made on-site with local clay. The rectangular floor plan features narrow four-over-four windows on both floors, with 3 bays at the entrance and 6 bays along each side divided by brick pilasters. The prominent portico is composed of massive Doric style columns on plinth blocks, a broad entablature, and a deeply recessed pediment. The main entrance has solid paneled doors with a tall transom and sidelights. The gabled roof is topped by an octagonal frame copula with a bell roof capped by a carved finial. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1962