Incarnate Word College

The campus sits at the source of the San Antonio River. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word bought the property from George W. Brackenridge's estate in 1897, and by 1900 the school stood on a 230-acre tract at the headwaters, beside Brackenridge Park. It affiliated with the Catholic University of America in 1912 and moved into its present buildings in 1922. By 1945 it had sixty faculty and 560 students. Founded for women, it became fully coeducational in 1971, though its nursing school had always admitted men.

What the plaque says

Incarnate Word College Noted for quality educational programs, this institution grew from a teaching charter granted in 1881 to the sisters of charity of the incarnate word. In 1893 a boarding and day school known as incarnate word academy was established. By 1909 a collegiate program ha developed from the Academy, and the first bachelor's degree was conferred in 1910. After 1921, the academy and the college became separate institutions. An important part of the educational endeavors of the sisters of charity of the incarnate word, the college has been located at this site since 1897. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Alamo — 3.1 mi
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.
• La Villita Historic Arts Village — 3.4 mi
  The little village across the river from the presidio, where Cos surrendered San Antonio in 1835, rebuilt by Depression-era youth crews as a working crafts village.
• San Antonio River Walk — 3.4 mi
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 3.4 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.

More markers nearby

• Ludwig Mahncke — 0.6 mi
• Portland Cement Plants — 0.8 mi
• Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Company — 0.8 mi
• Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright — 0.9 mi