Site of Andrew Female College

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Huntsville, Texas has got more than a few stories buried in its soil, and this one starts in 1852 with an idea — a college for women, at a time when such a thing was practically radical. Andrew Female College, they called it, named for Bishop James Osgood Andrew and sponsored by the Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

But here's a detail worth noticin': the charter allowed no religious tests for faculty or students. Whoever drew that up was thinkin' ahead. The college got its charter in early 1853, and by May of that same year, the first five-month session was already underway inside an old Huntsville College building folks called The Brick Academy.

And enrollment? High from the jump. Because when you open the only real door of education to women in a region that's kept that door mostly shut, people walk through it.

Classes outgrew The Brick Academy before the walls could get used to the noise. The citizens of Huntsville stepped up. They contributed funds for a larger, two-story building, and by 1855 it was complete and standing.

By the 1856 to 1857 school year, eighty students were enrolled — most of them from Walker and the surrounding counties. They studied what a classical education required, and they studied moral instruction, and then they studied music, drawing, painting, and embroidery. That was the full picture of what it meant to be educated there.

Now here's where the story takes a hard turn, and I want you to sit with it. Andrew Female College kept its doors open straight through the Civil War. Through all of it.

Not a single interruption. That's no small thing. But 1867 brought something the war hadn't — a yellow fever epidemic.

And it was merciless. The college president died. Several members of the faculty died.

A number of students died. The fall term could not begin. They waited.

Waited for the first frost, because that was the only thing that would kill the mosquitoes carrying the disease. Think about that — the calendar of grief measured out in weather. The college recovered enough to carry on, but the ground had shifted.

Other institutions began opening their doors to women — Sam Houston Normal Institute among them — and the competition took its toll. Enrollment declined steadily after 1872. By 1880, Andrew Female College closed.

But the story doesn't end there, and that's the part worth holdin' onto. The college property was conveyed to the city of Huntsville, and later that same year it reopened as the community's first public school. And then, in time, that structure was relocated and became a public school for African American children.

One building. Founded as a college when women had few educational opportunities. Survived a war.

Survived a plague. And in the end, became a schoolhouse for children who had even fewer doors open to them. That old building had a long education to give, and it gave it.

What the marker says

Site of Andrew Female College Andrew Female College was founded in 1852 and chartered in early 1853. It was named for Bishop James Osgood Andrew and sponsored by the Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Couth, although its charter allowed no religious tests for faculty or students. The institution's first five-month session began in may 1853 in an old Huntsville College building known as "The Brick Academy." At a time when there were few educational opportunities for women, enrollment was high and classes soon outgrew the academy. Citizens of Huntsville supported education for women by contributing funds for a larger, 2-story building completed in 1855. Eighty students, primarily from Walker and surrounding counties, were enrolled in the Andrew Female College in the 1856-1857 school year. Course work included requirements for a classical education as well as moral instruction and classes in music, drawing, painting and embroidery. The college operated without interruption through the Civil War. The 1867 epidemic of yellow fever claimed the lives of the college president, several members of the faculty and a number of students. The fall term was delayed until the first frost, which killed the mosquitoes carrying the disease. Andrew Female College suffered from competition as other institutions such as the Sam Houston Normal Institute opened their doors to women. Enrollment declined steadily after 1872; the school was closed in 1880. The college property was conveyed to the city of Huntsville and reopened later that year as the community's first public school. The structure eventually was relocated and became a public school for African American children. (1999)