W. H. Ford Male & Female College

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about W. H. Ford Male and Female College, over in Newton County.

Now, the name alone ought to stop you right there on the highway. W. H.

Ford Male and Female College. Rolls off the tongue like something serious, something grand, and in its day, it was. The college ran from 1889 to 1906, named for the secretary of the Southwest College Company, a man called W.

H. Ford. President Joseph Syler ran the place, and here is the part I always enjoy tellin': his wife was one of the teachers.

The two of them, together, holding the whole thing up. That is a partnership. Now, the school was high-school level, which sounds like a demotion until you understand that was true of many early Texas colleges.

The word college carried weight, carried aspiration, and this institution was founded for the public good, by private donors. No government check to fall back on. Just people who believed the community needed something and put their own money behind that belief.

The building itself was heart pine, and heart pine does not quit. When the college closed in 1906, that building did not sit idle long. For two years it became part of the Newton school system, still servin' the children, still doin' its job.

And then, as if the town could not quite bear to let it go, the building was moved to Courthouse Square. Right there in the heart of Newton, where everybody could see it. The college is gone, the years have passed, but that stubborn heart pine building found its way to the center of things.

Some structures just refuse to be forgotten.

What the marker says

Formerly W. H. Ford Male & Female College (1889-1906). Named for secretary of the Southwest College Company. President Joseph Syler and his wife were the teachers. High-school level, as were many early Texas "colleges"; founded for the public good, by private donors. After the college closed, this heart pine building was for 2 years part of the Newton schools, then was moved to Courthouse Square. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.