DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Presbyterian Pan American School in Kleberg County. Now, some institutions are built in a day and forgotten in a generation. And then there are the ones that take root slow and quiet, like a mesquite tree, and before you know it they've spread across whole continents.
This is one of those stories. It starts toward the end of the nineteenth century, when Mexican-American Presbyterian congregations began to appear across Texas. The church was growin, and so was the population — especially following the Mexican Revolution, when immigrants arrived in numbers that the existing communities could hardly absorb.
The Presbyterian Church looked at that and asked itself a hard question: where are the educational opportunities? In 1910, the Texas-Mexican Presbytery and the Western Presbytery sat down together and presented a plan. They wanted to establish a Mexican Industrial School for boys.
The plan was approved, and then something remarkable happened. In 1911, Henrietta King offered to donate six hundred and forty acres for the school. Six hundred and forty acres.
That is not a gesture — that is a statement. The very next year, classes opened at the Texas-Mexican Industrial Institution. Forty-nine students walked through those doors, including six girls.
And their mission was something worth saying out loud — to promote spiritual growth, yes, but also to train minds and hands for leadership in the community, through academic learning and through trade skills. Both. At the same time.
That was the vision. The school succeeded. And with success came a new question: what about the girls?
What about a school built specifically for Mexican-American young women? Funding was secured, and in October of 1924, the school affectionately known as Pres.-Mex. opened its doors in Taft, Texas, running a curriculum cut from the same cloth as the boys' school. For decades, two schools.
Two missions. Same spirit. Then, in 1955, action was taken to bring them together — to merge the boys' school and the girls' school into a single institution: the Presbyterian Pan American School.
And if you're going to build something new, you might as well build it right. By the fall of 1957, the first phase of a brand-new campus was completed — and that campus was designed by famed architect O'Neil Ford. That name meant something in Texas, and it meant something here.
What followed in the late 1950s through the mid-1960s was growth that nobody could have mapped out on a chalkboard in 1910. Over four hundred students. From states across the U.S.
From Guatemala. From Mexico. From Congo, Cuba, and Colombia.
A school that began with forty-nine students in South Texas had become something the founders could only have dreamed about. And it kept going. Over the years, through success and through hardship both, the Presbyterian Pan American School grew from a small facility into an international educational environment drawing students from the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Six hundred and forty donated acres. Forty-nine students. One idea about what education could do.
That's how far a seed can travel when someone decides it's worth planting.
What the marker says
MEXICAN-AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS BEGAN TO APPEAR IN TEXAS IN THE LAST DECADE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. WITH THE POPULATION INCREASE IN TEXAS FOLLOWING THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION, THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BEGAN TO ASSESS THE NEED FOR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMMIGRANTS. IN 1910, THE TEXAS-MEXICAN PRESBYTERY AND THE WESTERN PRESBYTERY PRESENTED A PLAN TO ESTABLISH A MEXICAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS. THE PLAN WAS APPROVED AND IN 1911, HENRIETTA KING OFFERED TO DONATE 640 ACRES FOR A SCHOOL. THE FOLLOWING YEAR, CLASSES OPENED AT THE TEXAS-MEXICAN INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTION WITH 49 STUDENTS INCLUDING SIX GIRLS. THEIR MISSION WAS TO PROMOTE SPIRITUAL GROWTH BUT ALSO TO TRAIN THEIR MINDS AND HANDS FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY WITH ACADEMIC AND TRADE SKILLS. WITH THE SUCCESS OF THE SCHOOL CAME INTEREST TO ESTABLISH A SCHOOL FOR MEXICAN-AMERICAN GIRLS. AFTER FUNDING WAS SECURED, THE SCHOOL, AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS PRES.-MEX., OPENED IN OCTOBER 1924 IN TAFT, TEXAS WITH A CURRICULUM SIMILAR TO THE BOYS" SCHOOL. IN 1955, ACTION WAS TAKEN TO MERGE THE TWO SCHOOLS TO ESTABLISH THE PRESBYTERIAN PAN AMERICAN SCHOOL. BY THE FALL OF 1957, THE FIRST PHASE OF A NEW CAMPUS DESIGNED BY FAMED ARCHITECT O'NEIL FORD WAS COMPLETED. FROM THE LATE 1950s TO THE MID-1960s, THE SCHOOL SAW INCREASED GROWTH IN NUMBERS AND GEOGRAPHY WITH OVER 400 STUDENTS FROM A VARIETY OF U.S. STATES AS WELL AS GUATEMALA, MEXICO, CONGO, CUBA AND COLOMBIA. OVER THE YEARS, AMONG SUCCESS AND HARDSHIPS, THE PRESBYTERIAN PAN AMERICAN SCHOOL DEVELOPED FROM A SMALL FACILITY TO AN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT WITH STUDENTS FROM THE UNITED STATES, LATIN AMERICA, ASIA AND AFRICA.