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Texas Vaptist Education Society

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Baylor University is the oldest university in the State of Texas. Throughout its rich history, Baylor has endured many hardships. However, these hardships have only helped to strengthen the university into the successful intuition that it is today. In the early 1840’s, Union Baptist Association members discussed the establishment of a Baptist university. This discussion lead to the development of the Texas Baptist Education Society. The Texas Baptist Education Society would work hard to establish a Baptist university, no matter what struggles they encountered. In the end, the Texas Baptist Education Society decided to petition congress to charter the university. After the signing of the charter, Baylor University opened its doors to twenty-four …show more content…

B. Baylor, James Huckins, and William Milton Tryon, discussed with their peers the establishment of a Baptist university in the Republic of Texas. William M. Tryon felt that a university was necessary in order to “meet the needs of the current generation of students as well as those of all ages to come” (Founders & Founders Day, n.d.). With support from the Union Baptist Association, several members formed the Texas Baptist Education Society, as a means to establish a university. Establishing the university became an arduous task. Attacks on the Texas frontier from Mexican troops and later Indians, put a halt to the Texas Baptist Education Societies …show more content…

At this time, the university was open to both male and female students. This would change over the years from co-ed, to male, and back to co-ed again, as Baylor grew and adjusted as a university. Students paid “$8 to $15 per five-month term, depending on the courses of study, which included the three "Rs" as well as geography, grammar, philosophy, chemistry, and the Latin and Greek languages” (Baker, n.d.). Until the arrival of Baylor’s first president Henry L. Graves, the faculty and staff consisted of one man by the name of Henry F. Gillette. Graves dealt with many hardships during his time at the university, some of which were “four original trustees resigned; another, William M. Tryon, died; finances dwindled; salaries went unpaid; and Gillette left, principally because of "hardships" he had to endure” (Baker, n.d.). While there were many hardships, Graves did make many positive contributions, such as the organization of a collegiate department and the addition of law lectures. By adding the study of law in 1849, Baylor became “the first in Texas and the second university west of the Mississippi to teach law” (The History of Baylor,

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