DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Rutersville, out here in Fayette County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a man who never quite made it to see what he set in motion. Dr.
Martin Ruter stepped into Texas on November 21, 1837 — a pioneer Methodist missionary with a vision for something bigger than a congregation, bigger than a circuit. He had his eye on a place for higher learning. But the travels had taken their toll.
Weakened by the road, Dr. Ruter died on May 16, 1838. He never saw the town that would carry his name.
That's the kind of story Texas tells a lot — the man who plants the seed doesn't always live to see the harvest. Ruter was born in 1785, gone by 1838, and what he left behind was a recommendation. Just a recommendation.
Turned out that was enough. Later that same year — the year of his death, mind you — a company of ten Methodists bought a tract of land, platted a townsite, and started buildin'. They called it Rutersville, founded in 1838 upon that very recommendation Dr.
Ruter had made. Now here's where it gets interesting. In 1840, the fourth Congress of the Republic of Texas chartered Rutersville College — the Republic's first Protestant college.
First one. And the legislation had something to say about who it was for: the school was not to be exclusively for the benefit of Methodists. Families of various faiths patronized it.
That's a remarkably open-handed thing to write into a charter for a college founded by ten Methodists on the word of a Methodist missionary. The first president of that college was the Reverend Chauncey Richardson, A.M., born in 1802 and died in 1852 — his grave is nearby, the marker tells us, close enough that you might walk to it from where you're standin'. Now, Rutersville students had a reputation.
They were noted for their loyalty to their neighbors — sometimes spending days away from class pursuing Indians. Days away from class. The marker says it plain, and it lands with a certain weight when you let it sit there.
These were frontier times, and the campus — half a mile southeast of the marker — existed in a world that was still very much bein' contested. Then came the Civil War. When it ended in 1865, the original inhabitants of Rutersville sold their property.
What had been built by those ten Methodists, shaped around a college chartered by the Republic of Texas, passed out of their hands. German immigrants came and purchased the land, and their descendants, the marker tells us, now live here in large numbers. A missionary recommends a place.
A town rises in his name the year he dies. A college opens, the first of its kind in the Republic. And then, after the war, the whole thing turns a page — new owners, new roots, new story growin' from the same ground.
That's Rutersville.
What the marker says
Founded in 1838 upon the recommendation of Dr. Martin Ruter (1785-1838), as a site for an institution of higher learning. Named in honor of Dr. Ruter, a pioneer Methodist missionary who entered Texas on Nov. 21, 1837 and weakened by his travels, died on May 16, 1838. Later in the year of his death, a company of ten Methodists bought a tract of Land, platted the townsite, and began to build Rutersville. In 1840, Rutersville College was chartered by the fourth Congress of the Republic of Texas as the Republic's first Protestant college. The legislation specified the school should not be exclusively for the benefit of Methodists, and it was patronized by families of various faiths. Rutersville students were noted for their loyalty to neighbors, sometimes spending days away from class, pursuing Indians. The Rev. Chauncey Richardson, A. M. (1802-1852), whose grave is nearby, was first president of the college. The campus was half a mile southeast of this marker. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the original inhabitants of Rutersville sold their property. It was later purchased by German immigrants, whose descendants now live here in large numbers.