THE TOWN OF SALADO AGREES TO PAY M.H. BUCKLES TEN DOLLARS PLUS INTEREST, FOR VALUE RECEIVED, IN A NOTE SIGNED BY O.T. TYLER, MAYOR, AND THOS. H. JONES, TREASURER, DATED APRIL 24, 1869
[Salado, Texas: 1869]. Single sheet of blue paper, 22 x 20 cm. A partly printed document, completed in manuscript. Docketed on verso: "Bond No. 17 to M.H. Buckles." Old fold lines, with a bit of separation at margins, some ink smudging and blots. Below the printed form M.H. Buckels [Buckles, spelled both ways here] has appended a note in manuscript, approx. 20 words, acknowledging the payment of $10, and transferring this bond to the Salado College Joint Stock Company, Dec.[?] 24, 1870. This note is signed by Buckels, and witnessed by S.C. Robertson and J.H. Aiken. Item #67119
Salado College was founded in 1859 by Col. E.S.C. Robertson. He organized the Salado College Joint Stock Company to help finance the creation of a "first-class educational institution" in Bell County, and donated 100 acres to the enterprise. Ten acres was to be set aside for the school, the other ninety acres were to be sold in lots to settlers to finance the school buildings. By 1866, there were some 250 students enrolled, and in 1871 construction began on a two-story addition to the original school building. Not typical for the time, the college was coeducational and non-denominational, and included students from elementary grades through two years of college. Orville Thomas Tyler (1810-1886) served as president of the board of trustees for the college for a number of years. The Panic of 1873 affected the school's finances, which were dependent almost exclusively on tuition funds. The Stock Company charter expired in 1880 and the college ceased operations in 1885. The property was turned over to city of Salado public free schools. [see: Handbook of Texas (Austin, TX: 1986); Salado Museum & College Park website]
Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson (1820-1879), the college's founder was commissioned a colonel of the Second Regiment, First Brigade, Militia of the Republic of Texas by Sam Houston in 1844. He later became a lawyer and was elected chief justice of Bell County in 1858. He served in the Civil War and afterwards devoted himself to educational enterprises, including the creation of Salado College.
Price: $575.00