Three church traditions planted universities across Abilene

Old Main began rising north of town in 1891, when Abilene was about a decade old. Local supporters raised $5,000 for Abilene Baptist College. An Abilene businessman and his partners added 16 acres and another $5,000. A gift from Baptist minister James B. Simmons helped finish Old Main, and the school became Simmons College. Sixty students entered in 1892. The school took the Hardin-Simmons name in 1934.

Abilene Christian began in 1906 as Childers Classical Institute with 25 students. The school later needed more room, and Abilene leaders raised $75,000 to keep it from moving away. Its present campus opened in 1929 on part of the old Hashknife Ranch northeast of town.

Methodist minister James Winford Hunt then pressed for a West Texas Methodist college after Stamford College closed. The church's regional education board chose Abilene in 1920, and McMurry opened in 1923. The three schools did not arrive as branches of one plan. Separate church communities built them over 32 years, leaving Abilene with three private universities and three distinct campus histories.