Clarendon College

The college idea is older than the present town. Rev. W. A. Allen opened Allenton Academy at old Clarendon in 1879. After the move to the railroad, citizens offered the Northwest Texas Methodist Conference four acres and a two-story building, but church leaders would build only if the saloons went. Rev. J. R. Henson led the campaign that cleared out the saloons of the Feather Hill district and, by 1902, voted Donley County dry. The school opened with four teachers and twenty-one students, and in 1916 it had the largest enrollment of any junior college in the South.

What the plaque says

Clarendon College On April 2, 1898, the first college in the Texas panhandle, Clarendon College and University Training School (Clarendon College), was organized by the Methodist Church Conference. The college's doors opened in the town of Clarendon on September 5, 1898, and for the first few years, courses were offered for students ranging from first grade through college. The college graduated its first class in 1904. On February 21, 1903, the Clarendon College Bulldogs played one of the earliest football games ever held in the Texas panhandle, beating the Goodnight College Buffaloes 16-10. Dr. George S. Slover oversaw an expansive period as president and led Clarendon to become a senior college on September 14, 1926. Clarendon conferred 28 bachelor's degrees before returning to junior college status and coming under the direction of the Clarendon School District in 1927. Under president Kenneth D. Vaughan, the college separated from the public school and a county-wide college district was formed in 1965. An endowment from Sisters Etta and Ida Harned allowed the college to move from its historic location and build the modern campus in 1968. Clarendon College opened its first satellite center in Pampa in 1978 and later opened centers in Childress and Amarillo. Clarendon College remains a cultural center of Donley County and the region and continues to provide students in its service area an opportunity for higher education. (2015)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Donley County Courthouse — 0.9 mi
  Bulger and Rapp's red brick and white stone courthouse of 1891, the oldest in use in the Panhandle, given back its third floor and towers in a 2003 restoration.
• Saints' Roost Museum — 1.4 mi
  Clarendon's county museum in the hospital Cornelia Adair built for JA cowboys in 1910, named for the nickname cowhands gave a Methodist town with no saloons.
• Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Ranch State Historic Site — 17 mi
  The two-story house the Goodnights moved into on December 27, 1887, after leaving the JA, with a porch that looks over bison descended from the calves Mary Ann saved.
• Phillips 66 Station, McLean — 26 mi
  A 1929 cottage-style Phillips 66 station on First Street in McLean, the town I-40 went around last and whose Route 66 business district stayed much as it was.

More markers nearby

• Donley County — 0.2 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Clarendon — 0.9 mi
• Stockton P. Donley — 0.9 mi
• St. Stephen's Baptist Church — 0.9 mi