 In
the fall of 1888, Mrs. Lucy Ann Thornton Kidd brought sixteen young
ladies with her from Mississippi to Sherman, Texas and took over the
the dilapidated facilities of North Texas Female College. She
brought her own faithful servants and her own furniture.
Mrs. Kidd secured the Reverend J.M. Binkley as her financial agent. Her primary goal was in the selection and management of a faculty. The Department of Modern Language was headed by Mrs. Maggie W. Barry. Katherine Lester of Oxford, Mississippi was employed to instruct art. Paul Harold von Mickwitz, a concert pianist, joined Mrs. Kidd's faculty in 1897. Frank Renard joined the faculty in 1904. Other faculty members were Hans Rischard, Carl Venth, Bomar Cramer, Miss Ethel Rader of Denison, Jacob Schreiner, violinist, Philip Tronits, pianist; Theodore Gontzoff, Russian singer, David Davidson, pianist; Pierre Douillet, Wilbur McDonald, pianist. Mrs. Kidd's required conduct of young ladies was dignified and firm. White dresses of the previous summer could be worn as long as the hot weather lasted into fall. When the first cold spell arrived, the students had to dress the remainder of the school term in the school uniform. There was a night watchman on the campus from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. with dormitories strictly supervised at all times. When the North Texas College students were given permission to shop, they marched in lines and were accompanied by a chaperon. The girls arose each morning to a bugle call blown by Mrs. Kidd's Negro servant, Lem Davis. Mrs. Kidd married Bishop Joseph S. Key of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1892. She became known as Mrs. Kidd-Key and the college was, informally, named Kidd-Key College. The name Kidd-Key College became official after Mrs. Kidd-Key's death in 1916.  During her administration, the North Texas Female College increased the number of buildings on the campus. In 1905, the Mary Nash College property on Mulberry and Elm was purchased. The large gymnasium was added to the Mrs. Kidd-Key's facilities.  The Chapel North Texas College Kidd Key Conservatory Sherman, Texas The school was known for its language study, offering courses in Latin, Greek, German and French. Most renowned was the music conservatory. With the possibility of women aiming for higher education, it was concluded that they would begin attending men's colleges. As the threat of extinction of the women's college, Kidd-Key attempted to prolong its existence by improving its status. In 1916, it achieved junior college standing. In 1930, the college entered a cooperative agreement with Austin College. However, the the building of a large university in Dallas, the Methodists were not interested in the necessities during the depression years to sustain their smaller institution. In 1933 the church withdrew support from Kidd-Key. On May 31, 1935 the college closed. The City of Sherman bought the property, Source: An Illustrated History of Grayson County, Texas by Graham Landrum, pg 101-104 Kidd Key College History Schools Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |