Site of Muse Academy

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some men leave a mark on the land. James S.

Muse left a mark on the minds of an entire corner of North Texas, and that's a different thing altogether. Born in Virginia in 1804, Muse was the kind of man who never quite stayed put. He prospered as a hemp grower in Missouri (no small feat), and then, as so many restless souls did, he pointed himself toward Texas.

He came with his wife, Margaret Slaughter, and he came with a plan. In 1858 and 1859, he bought 320 acres and built himself a house right here on this ground. Now, you might think that's enough for one man's legacy.

A piece of Texas land, a solid house, a fresh start. But Muse wasn't finished. In one wing of that house (one wing, mind you), he opened what folks would come to know as Muse Academy, also called Mount Pleasant High School.

A schoolhouse tucked into a family home, which was about as Texas as it gets in those days. And the man running it was no ordinary schoolmaster. James S.

Muse was a lay preacher in the Christian Church and a scholar of Greek and Latin. Think about that out here on the Texas frontier: a man who could quote the ancient world while the land around him was still being broken. As the school grew, other instructors joined him, including his own daughters.

The children of prominent pioneer families from all across North Texas came through that door. They came, they learned, and they carried what they learned back out into a region that was still figuring out what it wanted to be. The school ran until 1871.

That wing where it all happened was later removed; gone now, like so many things that shaped this place. James S. Muse himself died in 1878.

But for a stretch of years on 320 acres in Collin County, a Virginia-born hemp farmer turned Texas schoolman made sure that the children of the frontier didn't have to face the future empty-handed. That's the kind of mark that outlasts the building.

What the marker says

A native of Virginia, James S. Muse (1804-1878) prospered as a hemp grower in Missouri before coming to Texas with his wife Margaret Slaughter. He bought 320 acres and built this house in 1858-59. In one wing which was later removed, he opened Muse Academy, also known as Mount Pleasant High School. A lay preacher in the Christian Church, he was also a Greek and Latin scholar. Other instructors, including his daughters, were added as the school grew. Many children of prominent pioneer families in North Texas attended. The school closed in 1871. (1978)