DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1898, right here on this very ground, something started that most folks would've looked right past — a Saturday evening sewing class for black girls. That's it.
That's where St. Philip's College begins. Not with a grand ceremony, not with a ribbon cutting.
A Saturday evening sewing class. Now hold that image, because what grows out of it is something else entirely. The man who found it was the Rt.
Rev. James Steptoe Johnston, Episcopal Bishop of western Texas — born in 1843, died in 1924 — and he carried a conviction that education was a tool toward solving race problems. That's the marker's own words, and they carry weight.
He meant them. Pretty soon the class went coeducational, moved into a brick building of its own, and got a proper name: St. Philip's Industrial School.
Teaching duties fell to Mrs. Alice G. Cowan, a white missionary who'd already done prior service in Mexico before arriving here.
Then came 1902, and with it, a woman named Miss Artemisia Bowden. She came from Georgia, born in 1879, died in 1969, and when she assumed administrative and teaching duties at St. Philip's, she was stepping into something she would not let go of for 52 ensuing years.
Fifty-two years. Let that breathe a moment. In 1903, literary courses broadened the school's reach.
Teacher training got added. And by 1906, the place had grown into the St. Philip's Normal, Grammar, and Industrial School — a name that tells you everything about how serious the ambition had become.
In 1917, a new, expandable site was bought, and St. Philip's picked up and moved to Dakota Street, two miles east of where you're standing right now. By 1927, it had been elevated to a junior college.
Public control came in 1942. It became racially integrated in 1955. And it is now part of the San Antonio Union Junior College District.
When that Saturday sewing class opened its doors in 1898, enrollment stood at 21 students. Today, that number is more than 8,000. That's not a footnote — that's the whole story, right there.
What the marker says
Opening at this site in 1898 as "St. Philip's Saturday evening sewing class for black girls", this college was found by the Rt. Rev.James Steptoe Johnston (1843-1924), Episcopal Bishop of western Texas, who considered education a tool toward solving race problems. Soon coeducatinal and in a brick building of its own, it was renamed St. Philip's industrial school, and was taught by Mrs. Alice G. Cowan,a white missionary with prior service in Mexico. In 1902, Miss Artemisia Bowden (1879-1969), a black lady from Georgia, assumed administrative and teaching duties, servingfor 52 ensuing years. Broadened by literary courses in 1903 and with teacher training added, the facility in 1906 became the St. Philip's normal, grammar, and industrial school. A new, expandable site was bought in 1917, and St. Philip's moved to Dakota Street, 2 miles east of this site. Elevated to a junior college in 1927, and in public control since 1942, it is now a part of the San Antonio Union Junior College District. In 1955, it became reacially inegrated. The enrollment has risen from 21 in 1899 to more than 8,000 today.