Site of Switzer College

Duane's take

Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker, the way the record has it. Back in 1902, two people with a vision and a name worth remembering, David and Rebecca Switzer, founded a school right here in Hill County. They called it the Woman's College and Conservatory of Music.

Think about that for a moment. Not just a college. Not just a conservatory.

Both, together, out here in Texas, at the turn of the century. That is a statement of ambition. The school offered liberal arts, sciences, and music.

It kept an average of a hundred and twenty-five students, and those students had a life that was richer than just coursework. Literary societies met and debated and read aloud. Lyceum courses brought ideas into the room.

Receptions were held, which, if you know anything about the era, means people dressed up, showed up, and tried to impress each other in the best possible way. For a decade, this place hummed. Then, in 1912, the college moved to Dallas.

And the plant, the buildings, the physical bones of what David and Rebecca Switzer had built, was sold. By 1917, it was dismantled. Gone.

What was once a conservatory full of music and a college full of young women studying the sciences and the arts became, eventually, a marker on the side of a Texas road. But the marker remembers. And now, so do you.

What the marker says

Founded 1902 by David and Rebecca Switzer as Woman's College and Conservatory of Music. Offered liberal arts, sciences, music. Had average of 125 students. Social activities included literary societies, lyceum courses, receptions. Moved to Dallas, 1912. Plant was sold, dismantled in 1917. (1966)