The Baylor Line

Have you ever wondered what happened to Baylor’s abandoned campus in Independence after the University moved to Waco?

First, the Union Baptist Association attempted to found the Carey Crane Male and Female Colleges on the empty campus, but enrollment remained low, and the colleges were eventually disbanded.

Afterward, the Board of Trustees sold the land and buildings to T.C. Clay, a local who had previously been a creditor of the University. Clay then gave the land and the buildings to a Catholic priest, Father Martin Hugh, who used them to establish an orphanage for young Black boys.

Father Hugh was described as better resembling a farmer than a clergyman. He wore rustic clothing and had an impressive trademark beard so long it hid his clerical collar. He was known to be a bit impulsive and strongly believed that most problems would work themselves out and that it was best to avoid addressing them – a philosophy that got him into trouble then and now.

The orphanage was originally established in Kansas after the Diocese of Leavenworth established the Holy Ephiany Parish for the Black Catholics of that area, under the pastorship of Father Hugh. He opened the orphanage shortly after and named it Guardian Angels.

While Father Hugh was spiritually invested in the orphanage, he struggled to show the same level of investment in its finances. That is why many of his fellow priests were relieved when he moved himself and his orphanage away from Kansas to the very site of the original university campus in Independence.

The orphanage held approximately 35 boys, and Father Hugh was the only recorded staff member. Before he passed, Father Hugh transferred the property to his sister, and eventually, the buildings collapsed and were reused for their materials. While it is known that the orphanage existed, there is little record of what the boys’ daily life was like.

The story of Independence did not end when Baylor left. Now, when Baylor Bears visit the site of the original university, they can also pause to remember the story of the rather unconventional Father Hugh.

If the asteroid had never arrived, some species might have persisted longer than anyone imagined. Baylor geosciences professor Dr. Daniel Peppe and his team spent over a decade studying how ecosystems change over time and what really caused the dinosaurs to die out. “By looking at these extinction events in the past, it helps us contextualize what's happening today, and what could happen today,” Peppe said. Their research began in 2011, when the first fossils they collected revealed a surprising find: the dinosaurs were younger than scientists had previously believed. Read more now at https://baylorline.com/digging-into-the-past/.

Baylor's Yell Leaders were founded in 1920 when the student body voted in members to lead cheers at football games. The Yell Leaders remained a male-only organization until Diadeloso 1968, when two coed cheerleaders were voted in, and later on a third joined after an amendment by the Yell Leader Commission. The 1960s also introduced the Bear Claw and "Sic'em, Bears", which became a permanent tradition once former head coach Grant Teaff joined the Baylor Family.

In this Classic installment, enjoy a trip back in time to read what author William Carden and Baylor Line thought Baylor would (and should) be like in the 21st Century.

Read more at

Baylor in the Year 2000 - The Baylor Line Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to like in BL Classics. In this installment, enjoy a...

Dr. Paul Froese, director of the Baylor Religion Survey, and his team dedicated a section of their Wave 7 Survey to investigating Americans' current positioning on the separation of church and state. While never asking about Christian nationalism directly, the survey posed questions that got to the heart of the phenomenon. Their work grows out of a tradition Baylor has cultivated for decades of studying the tension between faith and politics. Read more now at https://baylorline.com/christian-nationalism/.

It’s no secret that George W. Truett lived an extraordinary life. However, one of his most incredible accomplishments came before he earned his Baylor degree.

In square five of a comic strip published in the Baptist Standard in 1956, readers are reminded of how Truett saved Baylor from financial catastrophe.

Having recently moved from Independence to Waco, the University was bearing $93,000 in debt. During a meeting of the Texas Baptists in 1889 in Waxahachie, Waco pastor Dr. B. H. Carroll was tasked with finding a financial agent for Baylor. The name of a young man was presented to him as a potential candidate: George Truett.

Truett was planning to study law but had recently changed courses and accepted a call to ministry. After meeting with Caroll about the opportunity, Truett met with the board of trustees, who were hesitant about whether or not he would rise to the occasion.

But Truett saw the heart behind campaigning and fundraising and was determined to do things the right way. During previous fundraising campaigns, many Texans had given promissory notes to Baylor but never paid them. Truett insisted the right thing to do was to return those notes rather than make people pay.

“We can get along at Baylor without their money, perhaps, but not without their friendship,” he said. “People are the important thing. Win the people, and they will willingly give the money.”

His attitude made all the difference, and people started providing an abundance of cash contributions. At one point, Truett himself quietly slipped $500 into the collection – all the money he had been saving up for his college tuition.

In the 23rd month of the campaign, Truett was still $800 short of his total goal. But, last-minute donations — including a very generous donation from an ill man whom Truett met with personally — brought the University to its fundraising goal.

The Baptists of Texas were thrilled, and that very next fall, Truett entered Baylor as a freshman and a hero.

Not to be outdone by its predecessors, the class of 1916 had big plans for its senior gift. Referred to as the Sixteen Seat, the bench was set to be constructed by Homecoming in November 1915. Despite delays through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and early 1916, the bench was finally installed in April 1916 within the Quadrangle. Only three decades later, however, the memorial would very nearly meet an untimely end at the hands of its own creators.

By the Sixteeners’ 30th reunion, class member Irene Marschall King had become discouraged about the seat’s appearance. A classmate recalled later that Mrs. King felt the four small urns and 30-inch flower vase on the center column were tacky and ought to be torn down — and torn down they were.

In 2023, Texas was one of the first states to set an ambitious goal to have 60 percent of Texans ages 65 and under receive a degree, certificate, or other credential of value by 2030. As Texas sees a 300 percent surge of first-generation college students, Baylor's First in Line Student Society is stepping up to create community and opportunities for these students. Read more now, at https://baylorline.com/first-generation-texas-students/

In this 1969 Classic article, David McHam tells the story of Capt. Eli Takesian, a Baylor graduate and chaplain during the Vietnam War who brought God to others in the most unlikely of places.

Read more at https://baylorline.com/battlefield-chaplain-eli-takesian/