East Texas Baptist University

The college's growth came after 1944. The Handbook of Texas says East Texas Baptist College was reorganized as a four-year school in 1944 and awarded its first eight baccalaureate degrees in 1945. By 1949 it had seven buildings on 100 acres and 643 students. Frank Shelby Groner served as president from 1928 to 1942, followed by Harvy Daniel Bruce from 1942 to 1960. The Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools accredited the college in 1972, and enrollment was 771 in 1974-75. Under Bob E. Riley in 1998, the university enrolled 1,221 students.

What the plaque says

East Texas Baptist University SECONDARY EDUCATION IS A FAMILIAR INSTITUTION IN MARSHALL WITH ACADEMIES DATING BACK TO THE 1840s. DURING A 1911 BANQUET FOR DONORS TO THE NEW SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY, DR. WILLIAM T. TARDY, THE PASTOR OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, WAS PRESENT. INVITED TO OFFER REMARKS, HE URGED THE METHODISTS TO BEGIN A COLLEGE IN MARSHALL. IN RESPONSE, THE METHODIST LEADERS PROMISED SUPPORT FOR A BAPTIST COLLEGE IF DR. TARDY WOULD UNDERTAKE IT. IN 1912, THE CHARTER FOR THE COLLEGE OF MARSHALL WAS SEALED FOR A TWO-YEAR SCHOOL, OR JUNIOR COLLEGE. DR. TARDY NEGOTIATED THE PURCHASE OF 100 ACRES OF THE ORIGINAL K.M. VAN ZANDT PLANTATION. FIFTY ACRES WERE TO BE SOLD TO PAY OFF THE NOTE. THIS ALONG WITH NUMEROUS DONATIONS, COMMUNITY FUNDRAISERS AND SUPPORT FROM THE BAPTIST GENERAL CONVENTION OF TEXAS HELPED RAISE FUNDS TO ERECT EDUCATIONAL BUILDINGS ON CAMPUS. UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE FIRST PRESIDENT, THURMAN C. GARDNER, MARSHALL HALL, AN EDUCATIONAL FACILITY WITH A GYMNASIUM, LABORATORIES, LIBRARY, OFFICES AND CLASSROOMS, WAS COMPLETED IN 1916. THE FIRST FRESHMAN CLASS REGISTERED IN 1917 AND, BY THE 1918-1919 ACADEMIC YEAR, AROUND 300 STUDENTS WERE ENROLLED. BY THE 1920s, DORMITORIES ENCIRCLED THE CAMPUS QUADRANGLE. AN ADDITIONAL 43 ACRES WERE PURCHASED IN 1935, INCLUDING THE LAND AND BUILDINGS OF THE ST. JOSEPH'S BOYS INDUSTRIAL ORPHANAGE, SOME OF WHICH WAS CONVERTED TO MEN'S HOUSING. DURING WWII, ENROLLMENT DROPPED SEVERELY BUT THE COLLEGE SAW A VIGOROUS POSTWAR ENROLLMENT AND BUILDING BOOM. IN 1944, THE COLLEGE CHANGED ITS NAME TO EAST TEXAS BAPTIST COLLEGE AND WAS AUTHORIZED TO OFFER BACHELORS' DEGREES, AND, IN 1984, IT WAS RENAMED EAST TEXAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY. THE UNIVERSITY CONTINUES TO SERVE THE HONORABLE GOAL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN EAST TEXAS. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas and Pacific Railway Depot and Museum — 0.4 mi
  The only surviving building of the Texas and Pacific shops at Marshall, a 1912 Mission Revival depot saved from demolition in the 1990s, still an Amtrak stop, with a railway museum and a Mikado locomotive.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 0.8 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.
• Starr Family Home State Historic Site — 1.0 mi
  Maplecroft, the 1871 Greek Revival house Frank Starr built in Marshall, with Ruth Starr Blake's glass and china, an 1880s kitchen restored in 2019 and a retirement home built for a formerly enslaved person.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — 14 mi
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.

More markers nearby

• Van Zandt Hill — steps away
• Matthew Duncan Ector — steps away
• Lt. Gen. George Perry Rains — steps away
• Alexander Travis Hawthorn — steps away