Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. Here are December’s finding aids:
Letter from Onnie Clem Jr. to “Julie” Cecile L. Julian Clem during Onnie’s 1945 public relations tour in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. They would marry seven months later. Onnie Clem Jr. papers #3939, box 1, folder 3.
Grant and Donell Teaff Baylor Football collection, 1948-2006, undated (#3835): Contains correspondence, football programs, newspaper clippings, and audiovisual materials relating to Teaff’s career as head football coach at Baylor University. As usual, the materials described in the finding aid can be seen at The Texas Collection, but many of them also have been digitized as part of the Baylor University Libraries Athletics Archive in collaboration with the Electronic Library. Check out game films, ribbons, and more in the online collection!
Onnie Clem Jr. papers, 1944-1948 (#3939): Letters between Marine Corps members Onnie Clem Jr. and “Julie” Cecile L. Julian Clem during World War II. Also included is a transcribed interview with Onnie Clem Jr. about his experience during the Bataan Death March and as a prisoner of war for two and half years.
Tax receipt from 1850 for John Herpin’s land claims in Liberty County, Texas. A dispute about ownership of this land was still going on in 1910, according to the collection. John B. Herpin papers #1636, box 1, folder 2.
E.C. Blomeyer and camera, Cameron Park, Waco, TX, circa 1917. Edward C. Blomeyer photographic collection, 1906-1923, number 001.
By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator
Edward Charles “E.C.” Blomeyer’s time in Texas was brief but well-documented. From telephone poles to animals, floods to parades, and much more, the amateur shutterbug committed many views of early 1900s Texas to film—and we reap the benefit today with the Edward C. Blomeyer photographic collection.
Born in Missouri in 1882, Blomeyer moved in 1912 with his family to Waco, Texas, to work as auditor for the Brazos Valley Telegraph and Telephone Company. He came with knowledge of the telephone industry gained while working for the Southeast Missouri Telephone Company in Charleston, Missouri, where he served as rate collector and in management. He would spend only eight years in Texas, but his knowledge and experience quickly helped to improve a rural, and in some areas quite primitive, telecommunications network.
A primitively constructed rural telephone pole serving as a junction point for several lines in Central Texas. Edward C. Blomeyer photographic collection, 1906-1923, number 497-1.
In 1914, Blomeyer began working for the Texas Telephone Company after it expanded to include many independent companies in Lorena, Mart, McGregor, Moody, Waco, West, and the Brazos Valley Telegraph and Telephone Company. This expansion of the Texas Telephone Company gave Blomeyer many opportunities for improving the existing telecommunications infrastructure. He first served as secretary-treasurer of the Waco-based Texas Telephone Company and worked his way up to be president by 1918.
But Blomeyer wasn’t just a career man—he was a photographer as well, capturing many images of Waco. He recorded many scenes of this booming city including trains, airplanes, bridges, rivers, animals, military, the cotton industry, and significant events. His professional interests overlapped with his hobby, providing a rare look into the early telecommunications network in and around McLennan County. These scenes include many early telephone poles—some of which are just sticks with wire attached to barbed wire fence posts! Additionally, Blomeyer documented his travels, with destinations ranging from Galveston, Texas, to Niagara Falls.
Texas Governor Jim Ferguson is seen here riding in the Texas Cotton Palace parade as his wagon makes its way on Austin Avenue, Waco. Edward C. Blomeyer photographic collection, number 504-1.
In 1920, Waco lost one of its pioneering men in the telecommunications industry. Blomeyer went to work for the Automatic Electric Company, based in Chicago. He stayed with the company as it changed ownership throughout the years, eventually merging with what would become GTE (General Telephone & Electronics). Blomeyer retired from the telephone industry in 1956, having worked his way up to the position of Vice-President of GTE. After retirement, he spent some of his remaining years in Palm Beach, Florida, where he died in 1964.
When The Texas Collection acquired Blomeyer’s photographic collection in 2012, consisting of approximately 1,500 photographic negatives and prints, they were neatly filed in a tattered old box. Its original owner or photographer was not known—the seller from whom we purchased it thought the creator was Fred Gildersleeve, a noted Waco photographer. However, Gildersleeve was just the person who developed several of the printed photographs. But we needed more information to tell properly the story behind these photos and the person who took them.
The Texas Cotton Palace, Main Building, Waco, TX, circa 1915. Edward C. Blomeyer photographic collection, 1906-1923, number 689-1.
The first big lead in our case was a small business card sandwiched between a group of negatives. It read: “E.C. [Edward Charles] Blomeyer, Waco, Texas, President of the Texas Telephone Co.” The subjects in the pictures helped confirm Blomeyer as the photographer and creator of the collection. Now that there was a name to link this collection to, we turned to the Internet. Blomeyer turns out to have been a prolific writer of articles on the telephone industry and its management, photography, and various hobbies, we learned from several digitized magazines.
The items in the collection date from 1906 to about 1923. Although he was not a professional photographer, his high-quality work provides a great history of the Central Texas community. Blomeyer was an interesting person to research. He left many traces about what he did professionally through his writings and about many aspects of his personal and family life through his photography.
This post shows just a small sampling of Blomeyer’s work—look for our upcoming series on Blomeyer’s photography, Texas in the Teens. We’ll travel with Blomeyer all over Texas (and maybe outside the state, too), and take a look at transportation, animals, and more.
Check out our Flickr set below for your first view of Blomeyer’s work. You can see more images in the finding aid in BARD—just do a search for Blomeyer, then enjoy!
Foy Valentine, circa 1980s. Foy Valentine papers, Baylor University
From humble beginnings in Edgewood, Texas, to being considered the “conscience of Southern Baptists,” Foy Valentine was a prominent figure in Christian Ethics and Southern Baptist History. The Texas Collection is pleased to announce the opening of the Foy Valentine Papers for research.
Consisting of 249 boxes of materials, the largest series in the collection documents approximately 27 years of Valentine’s service in the Christian Life Commission (CLC), the social and ethical arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. His service in the commission coincided with tumultuous times and issues—civil rights in the 1960s, social morality in the 1970s, and perhaps the most contentious matter for Southern Baptists in the 1980s—the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Upon leaving the CLC in 1987, Valentine continued to work diligently in Southern Baptist and religious agencies. His service in the Baptist Joint Committee of Public Affairs, from 1953-1961, 1974; and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State in 1969-1987, 1990-1997, are only two of the ten religious agencies that are reflected in his papers. Among the closest to his heart was the founding of the Center for Christian Ethics and the publication, Christian Ethics Today. As founding editor for CET, Foy was able to continue his vocation in Christian education in the ethics.
Fifty years ago, Foy made the following statement:
While the present age has brought the nation an awe-inspiring technological advance, a superabundance of material comforts, and greatly increased leisure time, it has brought no corresponding improvement in the moral condition of the nation. We are deeply concerned that more than ten million Southern Baptists have utilized so little of their potential to reverse the moral decline in America. ~Christian Life Commission minutes, 1964 (Foy Valentine papers, Series I, Box 3 Folder 2)
Inside cover of one of Valentine’s class notebooks while at Baylor University. Foy Valentine papers, Series V, Box 17, Folder 1.
Foy worked for the betterment of the moral condition his entire life. Even today, his influence is evident in the recently created (2013) Foy Valentine Endowed Professorship in Christian Ethics in the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. In many ways, Foy Valentine has come full circle—he graduated from Baylor in 1944 and came back to Baylor with his materials now open and available to researchers. We invite you all to make use of these newly released papers. This collection will interest anyone studying religion, but especially those interested in Southern Baptist history.
Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. We also have the last two finding aids completed by the Archival Collections and Museums class that worked on archival processing projects with us here at The Texas Collection last spring. Here’s the scoop for August:
Pamphlet with articles on fundraising for Texas Baptist universities, including Baylor University, Wayland Baptist University, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. BU records: Endowment-Enlargement Program #BU/86, box 1, folder 3.
Waco Chapter of Hadassah records, 1928-2009 (#3716): Consists of board minutes, yearbooks, and membership newsletters generated by the volunteer organization, part of the national Women’s Zionist Organization of America. (Archives class)
Murray and Greta Watson Jr. papers, 1956-1972, undated (#3785): The political materials of politician Murray Watson, who was involved with education, environmental regulation, and agriculture initiatives while in the Texas House and Senate from 1957-1973.
Murray and Greta Watson with daughter Milicent at the festivities for Watson’s prestigious Governor for a Day ceremony in July 1969. Murray and Greta Watson, Jr. papers #3785, box 279, folder 10.
By Becca Reynolds, Museum Studies master’s student
Dr. Harrington’s papers documenting his early twentieth-century medical practice include paperwork tracking his orders of morphine and other painkillers–we imagine this would look familiar to modern doctors! John T. Harrington papers #728, box 1, folder 9.
If you lived in Waco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, chances are you would have known Dr. Harrington. A well-known figure in the area, John Thomas Harrington, Jr. was not only a dedicated physician but also lived a very accomplished life. He dabbled in a variety of vocations, including oil, gold, and dairy. He also took part in founding colleges and serving on trustee boards (including the Baylor University board, on which he was one of the longest serving members).
His dedication to his medical career is quite evident in his papers, more than any of his other interests. The majority of the John Thomas Harrington papers are made up of medical practice materials that span his many years in the field.
Born in Mississippi in 1858, Harrington began his medical career with an education at Louisville Medical College. However, one medical school was not enough and he went on to both the Medical School of St. Louis and the New York Polyclinic Medical College.
Dr. Harrington’s suggestions for a healthy (though not terribly exciting) diet. John T. Harrington papers #728, box 1, folder 9.
After he moved to Texas he began building a reputation for himself as a doctor, serving as president of the board of health at El Paso and the director of the epileptic colony at Abilene. In 1897 he moved to Waco, where his list of achievements continued to grow. Here, he worked on staff at both hospitals in town, organized the McLennan County Medical Association, co-founded Baylor Medical College, and served as the city physician.
As a physician, Dr. Harrington worked out of a home office where he saw patients regularly. Some of these patients even included Baylor presidents. And if you head down Eighth Street today, you can still see his home (currently owned by Baylor University).
But medicine wasn’t everything to Dr. Harrington; he was also a family man. Harrington married his wife, Genoa Cole, in 1884, and together they had two daughters, Genoa and Jessie. Through journals, academic notebooks, correspondence and notes, we are able to get a small glimpse into the life of the Harrington family.
Even the good doctor incurred a few tickets in his day–here, we have a parking infraction downtown in 1930. John T. Harrington papers #728, box 1, folder 6.
More of Dr. Harrington’s family and friends may also be seen in the numerous photographs included in this collection. Some of the photos have identifications or captions giving some insight into the individuals in the picture. Others are blank, leaving many unknowns. Despite the blanks left by these unidentified photos, they are still quite fascinating and could be of great research value. (We welcome assistance from researchers who might be able to help identify people in these early Waco/Texas photos!)
These documents and photographs that make up the Harrington papers are a testimony to the impact he made in Waco throughout his lifetime. Through his position as city physician, he made a great contribution to the public, and the greeting cards, invitations, and programs included in his papers illustrate his high level of involvement with the community.
The Texas Collection has the privilege of preserving Dr. Harrington’s documented life, and for all those interested in studying a noteworthy physician of Waco, this collection would be an excellent resource.
Guest blogger Becca Reynolds processed the Harrington papers as a student in Dr. Julie Holcomb’s spring 2014 Archival Collections and Museums class. Reynolds, who holds a B.A. in History from Azusa Pacific University in California, will begin her second year in Baylor’s Museum Studies master’s program in fall 2014. She is currently working as a summer intern for the education department of the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott and will continue working as a Graduate Assistant in Education at the Mayborn Museum Complex throughout the fall semester.
View of wreckage of the Liberty Building Explosion on Austin Avenue, Waco, Texas. Acree family papers, box 2G13, folder 6.
The fall of 1936 proved to be a devastating season for the city of Waco. In September, one of the city’s worst recorded floods devastated the town. The Brazos River submerged Elm Street, and water rushed approximately two feet below the suspension, Washington Avenue, and railroad bridges near downtown. The end results of this natural disaster were estimated at $1.5 million in damage to McLennan County.
The F.W. Woolworth Co. fire, 605-607 Austin Avenue, Waco Texas. Acree family papers, box 2G13, folder 6.
A disaster of a different type was soon to follow just weeks later on October 4. The Liberty Building on Austin Avenue and Sixth Street exploded, fatally wounding 65-year-old janitor Warren Moore and causing an estimated $290,000 in damages to the structure, as well as those adjoining and nearby. Fortunately it happened on an early Sunday morning without the usual hustle and bustle of the busy Waco downtown area, or else casualties could have been much higher. Businesses affected by the incident included the F.W. Woolworth Co., Law Offices of Sleeper, Boynton, and Kendall, Walgreens Drug Store, Pipkin Drug Store, and Goldstein-Migel department store. Other businesses suffered minor damage, and isolated injuries to people were reported.
The Law Offices of Sleeper, Boynton, and Kendall. The firm’s law library was its major loss in the Liberty Building explosion. Acree family papers, box 2G13, folder 6.
The Liberty Building’s damages are detailed in a Waco News-Tribune article from October 5, 1936: “With its first three office floors converted into single rooms by force of the explosion Sunday morning, Liberty building showed destruction from its basement to its roof.” The structure next door, F.W. Woolworth Co., suffered an estimated $75,000 in losses due to fire. The law office was located on the fourth floor of the Liberty Building and sustained serious damage. Its law library, including several thousand volumes of books, was its greatest loss. Located on the first floor of the Liberty, Pipkin Drug Store was completely destroyed, and the nearby Walgreens Drug Store suffered heavy damage to its storefront and interior. The images in this post and the slide show below (from the Acree family papers) illustrate the devastation of the blast.
Walgreens Drug Store, located at 601-603 Austin Avenue, suffered major damages from the explosion, even though it was not located in the Liberty Building. Acree family papers, box 2G13, folder 6.
In the aftermath of the explosion, investigators wasted little time searching for the cause of such a devastating accident. One initial theory was that the recent Brazos flood a few weeks before had caused a massive buildup of water that overburdened the city’s sewage system. But it was found that the Liberty Building’s location on Sixth and Austin proved to be too much of a distance from the most affected areas closer to the river and across on the east side.
After almost two years of thorough investigation, it was determined by engineers that the explosion was caused by a gas leak from a loose coupling device on a two-inch pipe in the Liberty Building’s basement. Records from gas companies show a surge in pressure around the time of the explosion. Based on some of Warren Moore’s statements before his death, it is believed that a spark from a light switch ignited the gas leak as the janitor turned out lights before seeking assistance with the sudden gaseous odor. Unfortunately, that well-intentioned move cost him his life. (If you smell gas, don’t use or touch anything electrical, and leave windows and doors open or closed as they were—just get out, then get help.)
The building ultimately was renovated, and its neighbors relocated or made the necessary repairs, but these images remain as a reminder of Waco’s disastrous fall 1936.
Click the “play” arrow in our Flickr set below to see more images of the aftermath of the Liberty Building explosion. (Use the crosshairs that will appear in the bottom right corner to enlarge the slideshow.)
Works Consulted:
“Explosion Fire Loss Estimated at $290,000.” The Waco News-Tribune (Waco, TX), Oct. 5, 1936.
“Janitor Dies of Injuries.” Waco Times-Herald (Waco, TX), Oct. 5, 1936.
“Coupling of Gas Lines in Liberty Taken From Vault.” Waco News-Tribune (Waco, TX), Jan. 14, 1938.
“Explosion Legal Fight is Hardly Started in Week.” Waco Sunday Tribune-Herald (Waco, TX), Jan. 16, 1938.
“Bartlett to Hear Motion in Recent Explosion Action.” Waco News-Tribune (Waco, TX), Mar. 2, 1938.
Acree family papers, Accession 2986, box 2G13, folder 6, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. This month, all of our new finding aids are products of the Archival Collections and Museums class that worked on archival processing projects with us here at The Texas Collection…and there will be still more of this student work in upcoming months! Here’s the scoop for June:
Excerpt from Maudie Fielder’s notes on serving as a missionary in Asia. (Click on the image to see a transcription of the page.) Maudie Ethel Albritton Fielder papers #2241, box 2, folder 11.
Grace Noll Crowell papers, 1904-1958, undated (#3359): Crowell was the third poet laureate of Texas (from 1936-1939). Scrapbooks, correspondence, and photographs document Crowell’s family and her career as a poet. (Archives class)
Goode-Thompson family papers, 1837-1993 (#2794): Correspondence, a diary, and other records documenting the history of the Richard N. Goode and John Thompson families in Waco, Texas, with the bulk of the materials dating to the Civil War era. (Archives class)
Meusebach-Marschall family papers, 1847-1986 (#277): Correspondence, research materials, and notes for the publication John O. Meusebach: German Colonizer in Texas. The collection also contains other correspondence and collected materials related to Marschall family members (including Irene Marschall King and Cornelia Marschall Smith). (Archives class)
Before there could be a Cameron Park Zoo, the people of Waco had to support it! Waco Parks and Recreation Commission collection #2871, box 1, folder 8.
W.A. Holt Company records, 1925-1949 (#159): Holt’s was one of the largest sporting goods stores in Texas when it was sold in 1968; its records consist of several business record printing requisition orders, various sporting and academic ribbon printing orders, and approximately 60 Holt’s sports catalogs. (Archives class)
Waco Parks and Recreation Commission collection, 1987-1992, undated (#2871): Administrative documents collected by Georgette Covo Browder Goble during her service on the Commission from 1987-1992. Includes information on many important decisions that were made during Goble’s tenure, such as the construction of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and the early planning of the Cameron Park Zoo. (Archives class)
Bosqueville School women’s basketball, Central Texas champions, 1948. Frances Cobb Todd papers #2960, box 5, folder 12.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many members of the African-American community in Waco preserved memories of family, friends, and community by donating collections of letters, photos, financial documents, and more to The Texas Collection. While the collections may have arrived separately, the stories they tell often overlap and provide various perspectives on the same people and events. With items dating from 1861-1991, these collections cover many important events in the life of the African-American community in Waco and the story of Waco.
One family in particular, the Cobb family, has brought three generations of family materials to be preserved and made accessible to researchers at The Texas Collection. These items contribute to many record groups documenting the African-American experience in Waco for 130 years. Learn more about these historic figures in the paragraphs below—every hyperlink represents a collection.
Stephen Cobb, representing the first generation of Cobb materials in The Texas Collection, helped found one of the oldest African-American churches in Waco, New Hope Baptist Church. He also served as the first pastor of the church. Through two marriages, Cobb had thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to adulthood.
Reverend Stephen Cobb, first pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, Waco, Texas. Irene Cobb papers #2918, box 6, folder 17.
Many of Stephen Cobb’s children and relatives became prominent in the Waco black community—see the Smith-Cobb family collection to learn more. Several became schoolteachers, one daughter taught music, and another daughter married the noted Texas educator Robert Lloyd Smith. A protégé of Booker T. Washington, Smith served two terms in the Texas Legislature and founded a society to help black sharecroppers in the early 1900s. This society, called the Farmers Improvement Society, had 12,000 members in 800 branches across Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas at its high point in 1911.
One of Stephen Cobb’s daughters, Jessie, married Henry Bledsoe. Their son, Julius Bledsoe, or Jules Bledsoe as he was popularly known, was an international opera star in the 1920s-1940s. He sang for audiences around the world, wrote music, and performed in plays, radio, and television. His most famous piece was “Ol’ Man River” from the musical “Showboat,” though he also sang many other songs and spirituals. After a career of 22 years, Bledsoe died in Hollywood in 1943.
Jules Bledsoe, preparing for his role in “Showboat.” Jules Bledsoe collection #2086, box 10, folder 8.
At least one generation later, Irene Cobb was also active in the Waco area. A schoolteacher for 31 years at various schools around Waco, Cobb was also active at New Hope Baptist Church. By this time, she was at least the third generation of Cobb family members to attend New Hope.
Irene Cobb’s daughter, Frances Cobb Todd, continued the family tradition of activity at New Hope, and followed her mother’s career path and became a teacher in the Waco Independent School District. Frances Todd was one of several New Hope members to take an interest in preserving historical documents important to the Waco African-American community, and she helped bring several New Hope-related collections to The Texas Collection.
Prom night for A.J. Moore High School at the Blue Triangle YWCA, 1948. Frances Cobb Todd papers #2960, box 6, folder 15.
Other African-American record groups at The Texas Collection include the papers of Vivienne Malone-Mayes, the first African-American professor to teach at Baylor University, and of Oscar “Doc” Norbert and Mary “Kitty” Jacques Du Congé—Oscar was the first African-American mayor of Waco. Several of the people in these collections also were interviewed for oral histories that can be found in the digital collections of the Baylor Institute for Oral History.
Resources such as historic photographs, music, letters, financial documents, programs, and many other materials are available for research in our African-American collections. If you are interested in donating materials documenting the African-American experience in Waco or Texas, we would love to talk with you!
Love the photos above? Check out our Flickr set to view a few more from these collections. And then set up a visit to The Texas Collection to see even more great documentation of the African-American community in Waco.
Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. Here’s the scoop for November:
Decree by Mexican Secretary of War Jose Maria Tornel, via District Governor Jose Gomez de la Cortina, regarding Mexico’s response to Santa Anna’s capture at San Jacinto: while Santa Anna remains in prison, a bow of black crepe was to be placed on all flags and standards, and the national colors were to be flown at half mast. Jones Texas Broadsides, box 1, folder 11.
Gertrude Harris Cook papers, circa 1962: Correspondence and a manuscript Harris wrote on the Battle of Glorieta Pass, an important battle during the American Civil War in New Mexico.
Frank Jasek Papers. Inclusive: 1915-2012, undated: Research files consisting mostly of notes, correspondence, photographs, compact discs, and literary productions used in the publication of Jasek’s book, Soldiers of the Wooden Cross: Military Memorials of Baylor University.
A program from a 1916 presentation by the younger girls attending the Woodrow school. The school used the White system of expression, a noted methodology to teach students how to best utilize gesture, emotion, and voice in public. Woodrow School of Expression and Physical Culture, box 1, folder 1.
This piece by former Texas Collection director Kent Keeth originally was published in The Baylor Line in November 1990. Blogging about Texas periodically features “Looking Back at Baylor” selections, with hopes of sharing Keeth’s work with a new audience.
Wildflowers grow aplenty around the old columns of the former Baylor Female College at Independence, Texas. Photograph circa 1970
This past Sunday, Baylor University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor rededicated the historic columns on Academy Hill in Independence, Texas, on the grounds of Old Baylor. The event was a celebration of the two universities’ shared past and commitment to preserve their heritage. The columns from the Baylor Female College building are all that remain of Old Baylor now, but what happened immediately after the schools left Independence? Keeth’s essay explores one endeavor on the old campus:
In 1886, after Baylor University had moved to Waco and Baylor College had become Baylor Female College of Belton, the Baptists of Independence were naturally reluctant to be left without the kinds of educational institutions of which they had become so proud. Consequently, the Union Baptist Association attempted to reestablish the former environment by founding Carey Crane Male and Female Colleges on the two deserted campuses. Enrollment remained low, however, and the separate schools for men and women could not be maintained. By 1888 they had been consolidated on the site of the former women’s college, and a few years later the colleges were completely discontinued.
The remaining vacant campus—that of the university—soon developed a somewhat unexpected afterlife of its own. The university’s trustees sold the twice-abandoned land and buildings to T.C. Clay, a local resident who had been a creditor of the university. In turn, Clay conveyed title to the campus to Father Martin Huhn, a Catholic priest, who established an orphanage and school for Negro boys there in January, 1889. The history of that enterprise has been written by Rev. James F. Vanderholt of Port Arthur, editor of The East Texas Catholic, as a part of his study of “The Catholic Experience at Old Washington-on-the-Brazos, Washington County, Texas: The Oldest Black Catholic Community in Texas.”
This 1930s image from the Frederick Eby collection shows more of the building that once was the Baylor Female College. The stones from this building and that of Baylor’s other structures were harvested over the years for other building projects in Independence until all the columns were all that remained.
In 1877 the Diocese of Leavenworth, Kansas had established Holy Epiphany Parish for the black Catholics of that area, and Father Huhn, a native of Prussia, became its pastor. He soon opened an orphanage for Negro boys which he named “Guardian Angels.” It was this institution which he subsequently relocated, together with its orphans, to the former campus of Baylor University in Independence.
The priest was a rough-hewn individual who apparently relied less upon managerial skills than upon the philosophy that most difficulties would eventually resolve themselves. Contemporaries describe his appearance as resembling that of a farmer more than a clergyman: his beard was so long that it hid his clerical collar, and his clothing was “rustic.” He was also prone to impulsive or eccentric acts, such as his purchase of an automobile at a time when he could ill afford it, and despite the fact that he had never driven.
Although Father Huhn was “regular in his spiritual duties,…his financial management of the orphanage was so questionable that the Bishop of Leavenworth appointed a committee of priests to investigate his operation.” Thus, it was probably a relief to all concerned when he announced his intention to remove himself and his orphanage to Texas.
The Baylor Female College building columns were restored and dedicated in 1952. Left to right are Dr. Gordon Singleton, president, Mary Hardin Baylor College, Belton; Judge Royston Crane of Sweetwater; Dr. W.R. White, president of Baylor University, Waco; and Judge E.E. Townes, Houston, V.P. Baylor Board of Trustees.
Records of the orphanage are virtually nonexistent and even an extensive dig on the former campus by Baylor archaeologists failed to turn up any hard evidence about its operations or daily life. Rev. Vanderholt speculates that “when the original orphans grew up and moved out, few replaced them.” An 1891 Catholic Directory indicates the presence of thirty-five boys at the orphanage, but their number diminished progressively until, seven years later, none at all were listed. The institution, first known as the “Guardian Angels Industrial School,” gradually became less an orphanage than a parish called the “Church of the Guardian Angel.” Father Huhn himself was the sole staff member of record.
By the time of his death in 1915, the priest owned not only the seventy-five-acre campus itself, but also about a hundred acres of surrounding farm land. Still, “he never seemed to have the cash to take care of the normal affairs and management of the orphanage. The stone buildings of old Baylor began to decay.” His own living quarters were described by a visitor as “quite deplorable” and, perhaps as a result of their shortcomings, Father Huhn became fatally ill with rheumatism.
Shortly before his death, Father Huhn transferred all of his property to his sister. Thus, the land that had been identified with Baptists for forty years, and had subsequently seen a further quarter-century in the service of the Catholic Church, returned once more to private ownership. As its buildings collapsed or were razed for reuse of their materials, the former campus gradually became, as it remains today, virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding fields and farms of Washington County.
Although Keeth calls the former campus “indistinguishable” from the surrounding fields in 1990, Baylor has long been active in its efforts to remain in touch with its town of origin. From Independence homecoming celebrations to past restoration projects to Line Camp, Baylor has worked hard to honor its early history. The images in this post come from our Flickr set on Baylor’s presence at Old Baylor, which you also can see in the slideshow below. Due to lack of records, we do not know whether the Guardian Angels orphanage used the Baylor Female College building or if they used other Baylor structures.
