Rutersville College

Ruter first drafted the charter for a Bastrop College. The Congress of the Republic rejected it for espousing Methodist doctrine and accepted an amended charter, with no reference to any denomination, in 1840. The school opened in the last week of January 1840 with sixty-three students and a faculty of three: Chauncey Richardson, his wife Martha and Charles W. Thomas. Enrollment peaked at 194 in 1844-45, then fell with raids, the Mexican War, Baylor's founding and a church trial of faculty.

What the plaque says

Rutersville College First institution of higher education in Texas recommended in 1837 by Martin Ruter, D.D. Chartered as a Methodist school in 1840. Granted four leagues of land by the Republic of Texas. After educating more than 800 students it merged in 1856 into the Texas Monument and Military Institute.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Wendish Heritage Museum — 17 mi
  A museum at Serbin of the Wends, a Slavic people from Lusatia whose congregation of nearly 600 crossed on the Ben Nevis in 1854, losing seventy-three to cholera on the way.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 23 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.

More markers nearby

• Site of First Methodist Annual Conference in Texas — steps away
• Rutersville — 0.4 mi
• Asa Hill of Rutersville — 0.4 mi
• Oldenburg — 2.9 mi