 The
grandest monument erected by a people are its schools, the greatest
attainment wisdom, its greatest victory a triumph over ignorance. With
equal importance do schools rank with organized government. Sherman has
many schools of which she is justly proud, schools whose magnetic power
have filled her homes with a people superior in morals, in intellect,
in business activitiy and all the virtues that characterize a noble and
virtuous people; a people who are the equal of any within the broad
confines of the state. But among all of her schools that have done so
much
for the city of Sherman there is no one that holds a nearer or dearer plae in the hearts of the people than does the North Texas Female College, an insitution of learning that is the equal in many respects of any school in the South. This college is the property of the North Texas Annual Conference of the M. E. church South, and is justly the pride of all Methodists of Texas. Some twelve years ago when Mrs. Lucy Kidd Key, wife of Bishop Key, took hold of the enterprise, it was a property then reported to the Methodist conference at a valuation of $15,000, but burdened with a debt of $11,000, and school work for a time had been suspended. She immediately invested her energy and tact in the school and opened her first term with six teachers and some fifty-odd boarding pupils. The outlook was not encouraging, but the work went forward. It was not long untl the campus of six acres underwent a transformation. The yard was graded, flowers were planted, walks were laid and the garden was utilitzed. Soon other pupils were enrolled, and more room was required. An entertainment was instituted, the business men of the city were invited, and the needs of the College were urgently put before them. Right then and there the improvements were inaugurated which have kept on growing with the years until the present time the property is valued at from $60,000 to $75,000 and not one cent of debt resting upon it. Besides this, Mrs. Key has added ground of her own to the college campus and covered that, at her personal expense, with commodious buildings. She has even crossed the streets and erected handsome structures for the increased patronage of the college. The central building sets back some seventy-five yards from the street and just to the rear of the other two leading edifices, leaving a beautiful open court, filled in with cement walks, beautiful flowers, an imposing fountain and a large marble statue of Minerva.  We wish mention could be made of the different departments of instruction, but limited space forbids. There is one teacher, however, we will note in passing. Prof. Herr von Mitchwitz, who is the head of the music department. He not only has the highest order of genius, but this has been trained and matured in the great schools and under the great masters of Europe. He is the peer of any man in his profession. And notwithstanding the fact that he is a prodigy, he knows how to impart his knowledge and skill to others. He is making a wonderful success of his part of the college work. So that, taking it all in all, we know of no college in advance of this in its appliances, the efficiency of its teachers, in the grade of its scholarships, in the perfection of its discipline, and in the healthful of its surroundings. To what source to you trace all of the wonderful success? To the woman who stands at the head and guides its destinies. Mrs. Lucy Kidd Key is the incarnation of its enterprise, its progress, its success. To visit the college and observe her quiet manner you can scarsely realize that she has done and is doing. She is selfpossessed, unobtrusive, sweet-spirited, and as gentle as an angel; but she has a head full of executive ability and a heart that warms to the interests and needs of every girl, and teacher, and employe under her direction. She is the president when it comes to running the business of the institution, but a veritable mother superior when it comes to giving sympathy and kindly attention to those under her care. Her patience is well-nigh infinite. If she ever becomes disturbed or ruffled, no one but herself ever knows it. She is the woman of this line of work, and God is setting the seal of his approval upon the labor of her hands. She has achieved far beyond the work of ordinary mortals, she has built up a school that would be a credit to any city or any country, she has given to Sherman a school that has helped to advertise the town in the most effective manner; she has built up a school that is daily proven a blessing to the young women of our country and is recognized as one of the leading educational institutions of the Lone Star State and the South. She has built up a school that is educating and making independent women of the poor girls of our country and making nobler and better women of the wealthier ones, a school where the girls of the city and country are learning the sweetest graces and womanly charms, a school that is an honor to the county and to the State, a house of learning that should receive the hearty patronage and most liberal endowment of our best and wealthiest citizens. Mrs. Key has given the best years of her life to this noble work and she may rest assured that she has won the lasting gratitude of every thoughtul citizen of this portion of Texas.   North Texas Female College History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any links inoperable, please send me a message. |