Schreiner College (Schreiner Institute)

Schreiner put his gift in trust on December 31, 1917: $250,000 and 140.25 acres, to be used by the Presbyterian Synod of Texas one year after the war ended. The synod's trustees formally received it on December 27, 1921, and began three buildings. The military science department closed entirely in 1969, and in 1973 the school took the name Schreiner College. It granted its first baccalaureate degrees in 1984, and by 1999 it had seventy-one faculty and 803 students. It became Schreiner University in 2001. Schreiner's sons Louis and Gustave gave more than $3 million between 1950 and 1965.

What the plaque says

Schreiner College (Schreiner Institute) Kerrville leaders began to envision a college in the early days of the 20th century. Negotiations with the Presbyterian Synod of Texas were pursued from 1904, when plans were made for an annual camp meeting that might one day evolve into a boys' school. In 1914, local businessman Charles Schreiner (1838-1927) announced his plan to donate 140 acres of land and at least $100,000 to the Synod of Texas to fund the Charles Schreiner Institute for Boys. The plan was delayed by World War I. Finally, on September 18, 1923, the school's opening ceremonies were held, with James J. Delaney (1879-1959) as president. Ninety-five students were enrolled in the first year. The school stressed military discipline and religious instruction as a backdrop for general education. In 1932, girls were admitted as day students. Many students and younger faculty left Schreiner for military service and defense work during World War II, and a naval flight school was established at the institute for the war's duration. Sixty-six alumni lost their lives in World War II. Military training became optional in 1957. In 1971, the board of trustees voted to discontinue military training. Female boarding students were enrolled, and the recruitment of minority and disadvantaged students was instituted. The last high school class graduated in 1976. In 1984 the school became a four-year baccalaureate college. Schreiner College continues to evolve as one of Texas' leading private institutions. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Schreiner Mansion — 1.1 mi
  The 1879 downtown home of Charles Schreiner, the Alsatian-born merchant, banker and rancher whose store and mohair trade built Kerrville.
• Treue der Union Monument — 14 mi
  An 1866 German-language monument in Comfort over the graves of Hill Country Unionists killed at the Nueces in 1862, its flag of thirty-six stars kept at half-staff.
• Old Tunnel State Park — 19 mi
  A railroad tunnel abandoned in 1942 that now shelters up to three million Mexican free-tailed bats, who fly out each evening from May through October.
• Frontier Times Museum — 21 mi
  A museum built of fossils, petrified wood and cave formations in Bandera, holding a printer-historian's collection of frontier relics and oddities.

More markers nearby

• Gus F. Schreiner Home — 0.6 mi
• Saint Peter's Episcopal Church — 0.9 mi
• The Original Building of Tivy School — 1.0 mi
• Notre Dame Catholic Church — 1.0 mi