Collegeport Chronicle

June 8, 1910
 

The Sage of Collegeport.

A Real Pioneer is Prof. W. H. Travis, who has been interested in the Collegeport Country from the beginning.

            One of the most familiar figures upon the street of our city as well as the roads of the surrounding country is Prof. W. H. Travis the president of the Gulf Coast University of Industrial Arts, located in Collegeport.

            The professor’s life story is an interesting one carrying with it an ideal which of necessity waited until this time and found this place for its successful realization.

            Born in Southern Ontario , Canada , on a small farm, the oldest of a family of nine, in days when necessities were a sufficient problem without luxuries, and under conditions which counted a boy lucky if he had a fair knowledge of the three R’s without a college or technical training. Prof. Travis set his heart upon a full education and in his desire for his own training, he began to work upon the solution of the problem of a thorough and __________________ education for the poor farmer lad, who in most cases counted the _________ a luxury far beyond his reach.

            After a term or two in the old Vienna High School , he, with a party of young men under Dr. John Crawford set out for Manitoba while they erected a building and organized Prairie College _______________________________________________________________________ . The long winters and short summers made such a plan impossible and the college was soon closed for want of funds.

            Having the desire to uplift his fellow men, Prof. Travis entered the ministry and spent a number of years as pastor in Ontario, North Dakota and Minnesota, without a college education, and sometimes despairing of ever completing the same. He never gave up entirely, however, and with a family to support, after completing a preparatory course in Pillsbury academy, he entered Macalester College at St. Paul , Minn. , and graduated at the age of 38 years.

            After some years as pastor in St. Paul and Dallas the early dreams of helping the poor boy to secure an education came upon him with greater force, and he gave up his work and set out to seek a location where he might found a school.

            Having heard of contemplated developments in Matagorda County he came this way and after a short stay in Bay City , he came to Palacios and decided to locate there.

            With nothing as his capital, save his long treasured vision, and an inexhaustible amount of energy, he made a proposition to the Palacios Townsite people which was accepted. This was five years ago, when the town was in its very first stages and cattle roamed at will over the entire Palacios, Blessing and Collegeport territory. At Christmas time of the second year of his work as president of Palacios College , Professor Travis had acquired a spacious campus, a substantial college building and two dormitories with seventy students in attendance. This College was carried on as a Baptist institution, and Prof. Travis was gradually and successfully introducing the industrial features, developing the large tract generously donated by the Townsite people. The directors of the College, however, who were accustomed to the classical idea, conducted for those who were able to pay their way, did not enter heartily into the professor’s plans, but he did not give up. He courted no success unless based upon the idea of a practical education for the poor boy, and, at once resigned.

            Nothing daunted by its apparent failure, he spent the following months in perfecting his study and investigations in truck and fruit growing upon his own farm and watching for an opportunity to carry out his plans under more favorable conditions. The opportunity presented itself nearer and sooner than he or anyone expected, for soon after the Moore and Pierce lands were put upon the market and Professor Travis set out to interview the officers of the Burton D. Hurd Land Company. He found these men to [be] built on a large scale, and they at once saw the advantage of such an institution to the new development. A handsome tract of five hundred acres located on the most beautiful spot upon the bay front was set apart at a low price, and the company made a liberal appropriation to initiate the work.

            From this time on Professor Travis might be seen every morning very early rowing across the bay, often walking over four miles to the demonstration farm at Satsuma, now Citrusgrove, and back again in the evening. The Professor spent a number of months demonstrating the possibilities of the country and perfection of the school. In September the present temporary quarters were erected and early in October the faculty and students took possession of the building.

The Aim of the University.

             Prof. Travis and his colleagues are laying the foundation of a school that will at a minimum financial outlay enable the youth to secure an education along practical lines, especially agriculture, horticulture and arbiculture, using his labor to produce an income from the farms, gardens, and orchards which will be used by the school to support the student, pay his tuition and also provide a surplus as an endowment for future growth.

            The school at present has several acres in watermelons, cantaloupes, in addition to other smaller truck, which give good promise of an abundant crop. It also has a good start made towards an extensive nursery. These include several thousand fig and grape cuttings and about fifty thousand trifoliata plants almost ready for transplanting.

            Plans for the future include large orchards on the University grounds especially of orange and fig trees, an extensive nursery, truck farm and the smaller fruits. The plan also provides for picking and preserving such products as will not ship readily, also the output that may not find ready market, especially figs, beans, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. The University Brand will be sent to the markets of the world and __________________________________ coastal canal is opened, the University boats can reach hundreds of inland cities, while the ocean going vessels will be used for the Eastern coast markets. Besides the field, factory and market phase, the school will branch out into engineering and the technical work later on.           

            The plan is to teach the student to do things, and make the things done endow the school, thus mutually contributing to the training of the one and the sustenance and endowment of the other. Domestic science and the general training for girls for the various phases of woman’s sphere will also be added as the University grows and branches out.
 

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