TWU Old Main

In 1901, Governor Joseph Sayers signed into law the bill that created the “Texas Industrial Institute and College for the Education of the White Girls of the State of Texas in Arts and Sciences,” and the first iteration of what would become TWU was established. Denton was selected as the location for the college, and in 1905, the name was changed to the College of Industrial Arts (CIA). The building now known as the Old Main Building overlooked Quakertown from the north. As the CIA expanded, leaders wanted the school to become a “full-fledged liberal arts college” and saw the location of the all-white women’s college near the African-American community of Quakertown as a detriment to receiving that status and the economic growth that would ensue. 

Frances M. Bralley was president of CIA and spearheaded the campaign, along with other white community leaders and the Denton Women’s Club, to pass a city bond vote that would create a city park in place of the Quakertown community, effectively displacing the residents of Quakertown.

In a speech to the Denton area Rotary Club, Braley mentioned that the city, “could rid the college of the menace of the negro quaters in close proximity to the college and thereby remove the danger that is always present so long as the situation remains as it is. . . .”