Historic Walker County

1859. He also published a landmark History of
Texas that shaped the way people saw the state
for generations to come. 21
With the arrival of so many bright and
prosperous people, it was not long before local
residents decided to establish a new institution
of higher education in Huntsville. Daniel Baker,
a Princeton-educated Presbyterian missionary,
lobbied for the establishment of a churchaffiliated
school, and community leaders raised
$10,000 to support the founding of Austin
College in 1849. Reverend Samuel McKinney
assumed the presidency of Austin College, and
the school admitted its first class in the fall of
1850. Students at the college studied law,
optics, electricity, mineralogy, philosophy,
poetry, and rhetoric. After McKinney resigned in
1853, Daniel Baker was selected as the new
president, and the school reached its peak
attendance in 1855. The Civil War and a later
yellow fever epidemic led to the college’s
relocation to Sherman, Texas. Yet, the original
building still resides on the campus of Sam
Houston State University today. 22
In 1853 the Texas Conference of Methodist
Churches opened its own school, Andrew Female
College, in Huntsville. James M. Follansbee
worked as the first principal of the institution,
which provided young women with a classical
education and classes in music, art, and domestic
life. Charles Keenan, Henderson Yoakum, and
Daniel Baker served as the original trustees, and
Tom H. Ball was an early president of the school.
The college closed in 1879, and the leaders of
Huntsville transferred the building to the black
community where it served as a local school. 23
Although Austin College and Andrew Female
College survived only a short time, the Texas
State Penitentiary has enjoyed a longer tenure in
Walker County. Established in 1848 and opened
the following year, the penitentiary has been in
operation for more than 160 years. It is locally
❖
Left: Langston and Sarah Williams
Kittrell Goree family, including six
children photographed here (from
left to right): Susan Margaret,
Pleasant Kittrell, Edwin King,
Langston James, Jr., Robert Daniel,
and Thomas Jewett.
COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY
HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
Above: Henderson Yoakum
(1810-1856).
COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON
MEMORIAL MUSEUM.
Below: Andrew Female College
letterhead.
COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE
ARTS COMMISSION.
C h a p t e r I I ✦ 1 3