McMurry University

McMurry University, in Abilene, was founded by the Northwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church and opened in 1923. It was named for Bishop William Fletcher McMurry. The founder of the college was James Winfred Hunt, a Methodist minister and former president of Stamford College. Hunt was unwilling to relinquish his dream of a West Texas Methodist college after Stamford College closed. He began to urge the establishment of a school in Abilene, where the Baptist Church had founded Simmons College and the Church of Christ had established Abilene Christian College. In 1920 the education board of the Northwest Texas Conference voted to establish a college in Abilene; Stamford residents put up a spirited fight to have the college located in their community instead. Abilene, however, offered money, land, free water, and streetcar connections. The conference ratified the education board's decision in the fall of 1920 and appointed Hunt commissioner of the new college; he set about raising funds. Citizens of Abilene raised $100,000, and three donated land. By November 1921 sufficient money had been raised, and the conference elected a board of trustees and named Hunt the school's first president. The college charter was signed on November 21, 1921.

McMurry College opened on September 20, 1923, with twenty-two faculty and staff members and 191 students. The first buildings were the administration building (still standing and known as Old Main) and a dormitory. The first senior class, of four students, graduated in 1926. The school was accredited as a senior college by the Texas Association of Colleges and the Educational Board of the Methodist Church in the same year. Though founded as a liberal arts college, McMurry added teacher training and business administration in its first decade. The fine arts division of the college began to offer degrees in 1928. The college has continued the pattern of liberal arts education with some vocational programs. It has served the Methodist Church by educating potential clergy and laity. The ties with the United Methodist Church have remained strong. Until Dr. Gordon Bennett assumed the presidency in 1958, all presidents had been Methodist ministers. The two owning conferences-Northwest Texas and New Mexico-provide most of the members of the board of trustees. The presidents of McMurry have been J. W. Hunt, 1923–34; O. P. Clark, 1934; Cluster Q. Smith, 1934–35; Thomas W. Brabham, 1935–38; Frank L. Turner, 1938–42; Harold G. Cooke, 1942–58; Gordon R. Bennett, 1958–70; and Thomas K. Kim, 1970–1993.