1870

1870

• Mar. 30

  • Texas readmitted to United States.

1871

1872

1873

1874

1875

1876

• Feb. 10

  • The official date of the removal of Austin College from Huntsville to Sherman.

1877

• Methodist Church buys former Austin College Building, establishes short-lived Mitchell College for boys.

1878

1879

• Apr. 21

  • Governor Oran M. Roberts creates legislature to create an institution named after Sam Houston. Only Texas A&M and its associated Prairie View campus had been established earlier, in 1876, as state-supported institutions of higher learning, making SHSU the third-oldest university in Texas. The Normal would receive top students that were recommended on a quota basis from each Texas senatorial district.

• Oct.10

  • Sam Houston Normal Institute (SHNI), the first teacher training school in the southwestern United States opens with one classroom building, four faculty members, and 110 students.

  • Campus named SHNI until 1923.

  • Bernard Mallon begins tenure as president (until October 21, 1879).

• Unknown

  • Hildreth H. Smith begins tenure as president until 1881.