DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight from the record. Way back in 1845, the Republic of Texas chartered Nacogdoches University — and three early settlers stepped up to make it real. Haden Edwards, Charles S.
Taylor, and J. R. Arnold put in twenty-one and a half acres of land, right there in Nacogdoches, just handed it over for the school.
By 1848 that ground had a name: Washington Square. Bounded on its edges by what are now Hughes, Mound, Edwards, and Fredonia streets — you can still walk those lines today. Now, the university trustees didn't let that land sit idle.
In 1858 they raised up a two-story red brick Greek Revival building right there on the square. Two stories. Red brick.
Greek Revival. That is a statement of intention, friends. Then the Civil War came, and that fine academic building became a Confederate Hospital.
The war ends, and the U.S. Army moves in — making it the East Texas headquarters for their operations. Same building.
After all that, a Masonic Lodge took up residence. Then a Louisiana college. That structure had more lives than most towns.
By 1889, the trustees were running short on funds — needed money badly enough that they sold off the southern end of the square, the stretch between what are now Arnold and Edwards streets, for residential development. And over the years, both Christ Episcopal Church and the Old Stone Fort stood on that square for a time. In 1904, the trustees transferred the whole campus to the Nacogdoches Independent School District.
What followed reads like a legacy stacked on a legacy: public schools, the first site of Stephen F. Austin State University, and today, the Thomas J. Rusk Middle School.
Twenty-one and a half acres, donated by three men in 1845. Still educatin' after all this time.
What the marker says
When Nacogdoches University was chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845, three early settlers --Haden Edwards, Charles S. Taylor, and J. R. Arnold -- donated 21.5 acres of land for the school. Known as Washington Square by 1848, the land was bounded by the present-day streets of Hughes, Mound, Edwards, and Fredonia. University trustees erected a two-story red brick Greek Revival building on the square in 1858. During the Civil War it served as a Confederate Hospital, and following the war was the site of the U.S. Army's East Texas headquarters. Later tenants of the structure included a Masonic Lodge and a Louisiana college. In 1889, in an effort to raise much-needed funds, University trustees sold the southern end of the square (between present Arnold and Edwards streets) for residential development. Christ Episcopal Church and the Old Stone Fort both stood on the square for a time. The trustees transferred the campus to the Nacogdoches Independent School District in 1904. Its educational purposes have included public schools, the first site of Stephen F. Austin State University, and the present Thomas J. Rusk Middle School. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.