Old University Building Nacogdoches Texas

10/13/2026

10/10/2026

If you ever sat at a school desk on Washington Square in Nacogdoches, you were sitting in a room that had already been a hospital.

The town had wanted a university of its own for a long while. In the fall of 1844 neighbors put their names to a subscription list and pledged what they actually had, acres of land, a little cash, and five hundred and thirty five dollars' worth of work, pork and materials. The Republic of Texas granted the charter in February 1845. The two story brick building was contracted for in 1858, cost a little over eleven thousand dollars once the interest was counted, and was not paid off until 1867.

By then it had been through the war. Classes very nearly stopped, a few local women taught small children in the rooms to keep something alive, and the building was used as a hospital and quarters for Confederate soldiers. During Reconstruction those same rooms became headquarters for the Federal soldiers stationed in Nacogdoches. Afterward the university limped along under one arrangement after another, Catholic sisters teaching there, the Masonic lodge managing it, a leased college using the grounds, until the charter ran out in 1900.

The rooms never stayed empty long.

In 1904 the property was deeded to the Nacogdoches school district, and town children filled the place through the 1930s. Then in September 1923 a brand new college with no campus of its own opened on Washington Square and held some of its first classes in those same rooms. The college was Stephen F. Austin State.

The Old University Building is still standing, a Registered Texas Historical Landmark since 1962 and on the National Register since 1971, restored once in the 1960s and again in our own time, kept and opened by volunteers of the Nacogdoches Federation of Women's Clubs.

Hospital. Headquarters. Grade school. University. One set of rooms on a square in East Texas, begun as a list of names and whatever each neighbor could spare.

10/03/2026

October 15, 3:30-4:30
OLD UNIVERSITY BUILDING
515 Mound Street

10/01/2026

Workshop and Presentation Series
Old Nacogdoches University Building
515 Mound St Nacogdoches

09/26/2026

This past summer, SFA Public History graduate student, Becca Jestis, photographed objects in the collection of the Stone Fort Museum, the Old University Building and the East Texas Research Center for inclusion in the William J. Hill Texas Artisans and Artist Archive. Now you have the opportunity to learn more about photographing objects for documentation and preservation! Project Manager of the Hill Archive, Michelle Johnson, will lead an afternoon workshop on Thursday, November 12 at the Old University Building. Join us to learn how to document and preserve your family treasures! $10 admission fee. Students are free!
Stephen F. Austin State University
Learn more about the Hill Archive! Go to: http://texasartisans.mfah.org

09/23/2026

Celebrating Constitution Week at the Old University Building! Ringing the Bell 239 times! Thank you for all that came and helped us celebrate!

09/18/2026

So exciting to see the celebration of Constitution day! We,the OUB, share the same campus with with Thomas J Rusk Elementary School!
Did you know the celebration of the constitution was started by the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1955, DAR petitioned Congress to set aside September 17 through the 23rd annually to be dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week. The resolution was later adopted by the US Congress and signed into public law on August 2, 1956 by President Dwight D Eisenhower.

09/15/2026

Come join us September 21 at 10:00 AM for a bell ringing celebration of the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, 239 years ago. Hope to see you there.