One Half Mile North to the Site Once Occupied by Trinity University

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, and I'm taking my cue straight from the official record on this one, there's a story hiding just off this road that most folks roll right past without a second thought. Half a mile north of where you're sitting right now, the ground holds the memory of a university. Not a rumor of one, not a dream of one.

A real, functioning university, sitting out here in Limestone County, Texas. Let me tell you about it. The Brazos Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church established Trinity University, and on September 23, 1869, it opened its doors.

Co-educational from the very start, which was no small thing. Men and women learning side by side. The institution got its charter on August 13, 1870, and it wasn't just offering the basics, either.

Trinity had a school of law. It had a school of theology. Out here in Limestone County, they were training lawyers and ministers both, which depending on your perspective might be the most Texas combination imaginable.

Now here's the part that sticks with you. In 1902, Trinity University picked up and moved. Not down the road, not to the next county.

It was removed to Waxahachie. And the land where all that learning happened, where students walked to class and debated law and wrestled with theology, that land just went quiet. Half a mile north.

The marker points the way, even if the buildings are long gone.

What the marker says

Established by the Brazos Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Opened its doors as a co-educational institution September 23, 1869. Chartered August 13, 1870. Included schools of law and theology. Removed in 1902 to Waxahachie.