Item #67271 MANUSCRIPT AGREEMENT BETWEEN E.S.C. ROBERTSON, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF SALADO COLLEGE, AND JOHN HENDRICKSON, DATED APRIL 25, 1870. Salado College.

MANUSCRIPT AGREEMENT BETWEEN E.S.C. ROBERTSON, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF SALADO COLLEGE, AND JOHN HENDRICKSON, DATED APRIL 25, 1870

Single sheet, folded to 32 x 20 cm. Two leaves, approx. 350 words, docketed on the verso of the second leaf. Hendrickson agrees to commence work on an addition to the Salado College building, "to be built of the best building stone and of first class rubble masonry...." Robertson agrees that the college will furnish on demand the doors, window frames and all necessary carpentry work and pay for the walls. Document signed by Robertson and Hendrickson. A 5 cent revenue stamp laid down in the margin. Accompanied by a bill for lumber for Salado College, ordered by O.T. Tyler, for Building Committee from Post & Terrell. Single sheet, the list of lumber, plus approx. 100 words of instructions. Signed by O.T. Tyler, undated [sometime between May and August, likely 1870]. Tyler requests that Post & Terrell cut the pine lumber, ordered in various lengths and widths, at their mill, and allow it to season until the College is ready to haul it to the construction site. Accompanied by a hand-drawn plat showing the commons belonging to the College, the course of Salado Creek, the position of both the old and the new dam, and Davis' lot on the other side of the creek. A manuscript key appears below the drawing, referring to eight different places on the plat. Single sheet of lined paper, old fold lines, a very good sketch. The three items. Item #67271

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, as evidenced here. 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: $275.00

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