Terrell's HBCU Gave an Older School Campus a New Life

Southwestern Christian College started with about 45 students and no permanent campus. The school opened in 1948 as the Southern Bible Institute, with George P. Bowser playing a leading role in the effort.

A year later, its trustees bought the former Texas Military College property in Terrell and renamed the school. Classes began there the following fall. The U.S. Department of Education now lists Southwestern Christian College among the nation's historically Black colleges and universities.

The move joined a much older school story. The campus includes the octagonal Robert A. Terrell house, built in 1864 for the pioneer whose name the town carries. A state marker says the property had been tied to a succession of schools since 1897 before Southwestern Christian College moved there in 1950.

At 200 Bowser Circle, those timelines meet: an HBCU founded with 45 students found a home on ground where Terrell students had already been gathering for generations.