Site of Old Behrns West Texas Normal and Business College

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere in San Saba County, Texas, there's a piece of ground that once held something genuinely remarkable, and the story starts in 1895. That's when a man named Francis Marion Behrns, noted educator, opened what would become the West Texas Normal and Business College.

Now, you have to picture what it took to build a school out here. Interested local citizens came together and raised up a three-story main hall, cut right out of native blue marble. Three stories.

Blue marble. Out on the Texas frontier. And beside it, a frame dormitory to house the students who came from who knows how far to learn.

What did they learn? Well, the courses tell you everything about what Behrns thought an educated person ought to be. Mathematics.

Natural sciences. Latin. Oratory.

Commercial subjects. Literature. Psychology.

Music and painting. That is a serious education. And woven through all of it, the school stressed character building.

Not just what you knew, but who you were becoming. The graduates went on to lead in teaching and other professions, carrying whatever Behrns planted in them out into the wider world. But the school itself closed in 1903.

Those blue marble walls didn't sit empty long, though. Cherokee Junior College moved in and made use of the buildings. Then, after 1921, the public schools took their turn.

Decades passed. Different students, different purposes, same old walls. And then, in 1945, fire destroyed the old main hall.

Three stories of native blue marble, and the fire took it. That's the way of things sometimes. The people outlast the buildings, and the buildings outlast everything until they don't.

Francis Marion Behrns built something that shaped lives, and the marker standing on that site today is about as close as you can get to touching it now.

What the marker says

Opened 1895 by noted educator Francis Marion Behrns. A 3-story native blue marble main hall and frame dormitory were built by interested local citizens. Courses included mathematics, natural sciences, Latin, oratory, commercial subjects, literature, psychology, music and painting. Character building was stressed. Its graduates led in teaching and other professions. After the Behrns School closed in 1903, buildings were used by Cherokee Junior College; after 1921 by public schools. In 1945 fire destroyed old main hall.