Site of Odd Fellows University and Orphans Home

The plaque names the school's subjects. The charter and staff come from a 1952 thesis on early Bryan. Twenty men, including T. T. Smothers, George Johnson and Alexander McKee, founded it in 1870, and it was incorporated as the Texas Odd Fellows University and Orphans' Home. In 1873 the superintendent was Harry F. Estille, and the teachers included Mr. Pierrot for German, French, penmanship and drawing, and Mrs. V. D. Eaton for science and English. The 1873 commencement was held in Cramer Hall.

What the plaque says

Site of Odd Fellows University and Orphans Home Founded 1870 by Odd Fellows lodge. Housed in a 2-story frame building. Taught drawing, English, French, German, Greek, Latin, music, philosophy, geometry, trigonometry, science, surveying, penmanship. Had primary to young adult students, attracted here from an 80-mile area. Records do not show planned orphanage ever operated. Funds came chiefly from tuition fees. During 5-year career, school taught future Texas leaders. The building was sold (1875) to W.W. and B.L. James and Mrs. V.D. Eaton, for Bryan Academy. It housed St. Joseph's Church 1876 to 1903. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum — 5.4 mi
  The library of the forty-first president on the Texas A&M campus, opened in 1997, where George and Barbara Bush and their daughter Robin are buried in a family plot on the grounds.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 25 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Navasota — 26 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 26 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• St. Joseph School — steps away
• St. Joseph Catholic Church — steps away
• First Methodist Church of Bryan — steps away
• Town Named for William Joel Bryan — steps away