Willis Male and Female College

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Willis Male and Female College, up in Montgomery County. Now settle in, because this one's got more twists than a back-road through the Piney Woods. The year was 1888, and coeducation, boys and girls learning under the same roof, was a rare thing.

Not in Willis, though. The citizens of Willis looked at that notion and decided they were ahead of their time. They raised the funds, hired a contractor by the name of Sidney L.

Inglet, and that man put up a two-and-a-half story building. Two and a half stories. In 1888.

In Willis, Texas. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, keeping a college running takes more than ambition and lumber.

Taxes covered three of the six months of school each year. The other three months, well, that fell to tuition. And the tuition ranged from a dollar fifty a month for first grade all the way up to four dollars for the higher levels.

Four dollars. The first directors were M. H. and S.

N. Barker and N. A.

Cravens, and they held the reins until 1890, when they sold out to C. H. Stovall and F.

P. Crow. Stovall and Crow ran the place for a stretch, then they sold it too, in 1894, to Cyril M.

Jansky and Marion Kline. Now here's the part that tells you this college had a real reputation: boarding students came from a wide area to study there. Wide area.

This wasn't just a neighborhood schoolhouse. And at least two diplomas were awarded, which the marker mentions with a kind of quiet pride. At least two.

Not a thundering graduation parade, but a diploma is a diploma, and somebody earned it. The story closes in 1901, when the plant was sold to the city of Willis for public school purposes. From coeducational college to public school, passed through the hands of five different owners across thirteen years, and in the end it came home to the town that built it.

What the marker says

Founded 1888, when coeducation was rare. Willis citizens raised funds for 2-1/2 story building put up by contractor Sidney L. Inglet. Taxes funded three of the six months of school; monthly tuition for rest of year ranged from $1.50 (first grade) to $4.00. First directors -- M. H. and S. N. Barker and N. A. Cravens -- sold out (1890) to C. H. Stovall and F. P. Crow, who in turn sold (1894) to Cyril M. Jansky and Marion Kline. College drew boarding students from wide area, and at least two diplomas were awarded. The plant was sold (1901) to city of Willis for public school purposes.