Southwestern University Main Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. You're looking at the oldest structure on the permanent campus of Southwestern University, and friend, this building has a story that starts before a single brick was laid. Back in 1895, planning got underway for something ambitious: one building to hold a chapel, a library, classrooms, and offices, all under one roof.

That vision belonged to the era of Dr. J. H.

McLean, the regent, which is what they called the president, born in 1838 and gone in 1925. He dreamed it up. But the man who saw it rise from the ground was his successor, Regent R.

S. Hyer, born 1860, gone 1929. Planning ran from 1895 to 1897.

Construction ran from 1898 to 1900. Two men, one building, years in the making. Now here's where the story gets some real Texas soil under its fingernails.

The building fund drew gifts from across the entire state. And among those gifts was land, actual land, from the plantation of the late Texas president Sam Houston. Let that settle for a moment.

Land connected to Sam Houston going toward a university chapel and library in Williamson County. The builders chosen for this work were a firm called Flume and Waterston, men who had come from the British Isles and who had already left their mark on something you might recognize: the Texas State Capitol. So when they shaped this building in the Neo-Romanesque style, with its rounded arches and its solid, serious presence, they were not exactly amateurs.

These were craftsmen who knew how to build for the ages. And build for the ages they did. The oldest structure on this permanent campus is still standing right here, still doing its job, outlasting the men who planned it, the men who funded it, and every regent who has walked its halls since.

What the marker says

Oldest structure on permanent campus. Planned 1895-97 as chapel, library, classrooms, offices, when the regent (president) was Dr. J. H. McLean (1838-1925); built 1898-1900 under regent R. S. Hyer (1860-1929). From throughout the state came building fund gifts, which even included land from plantation of late Texas president Sam Houston. Neo-Romanesque style. Builders, Flume & Waterston (from British Isles), had worked on State Capitol. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962