Wesley College Administration Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this one. Now, Wesley College had itself a history of moving around before it ever put down roots here. The North Texas Conference of the Methodist Church had been running it over in Terrell, Texas, from 1905 to 1911.

Then, in 1912, Wesley College picked up and moved here. That's the kind of institutional determination that tells you something about the people behind it. They weren't letting go.

Two years after that move, they got to work on this administration building, raising it up between 1914 and 1915. Solid. Official.

The kind of structure that says we are staying. And then, somewhere in the 1920s, it burned. Just like that, the building was gone.

Now, here is where the story turns. The church didn't walk away from the ashes, and neither did the faithful laymen. They rebuilt it.

That's the word the marker uses, rebuilt, and it matters. The same building, brought back by people who refused to let fire have the final word. And carved right into the base of this administration building, a reminder of who else had a hand in making it permanent: the Alumni and Ex-students Association.

So when you look at this place, you're looking at something that was built, lost, and built again, and every soul who helped is written into the stone itself.

What the marker says

After its operation by North Texas Conference of the Methodist Church in Terrell (Tex.) in 1905-11, Wesley College moved here 1912. This administration building, erected 1914-15, burned in the 1920s but was rebuilt by the church and faithful laymen. Incise in base: Erected by Alumni and Ex-students Association.