Mary Allen Seminary was one of Texas’ first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Although the 4-story building stands alone off one of Crockett’s main roads, the school was once much larger. Another building of equal size sat just behind what remains and had church directly behind it. Other surrounding buildings were much smaller.
From the Texas historical marker:
“In 1886 the board of missions for freedmen of the Presbyterian church in the United States, under leadership of the group’s secretary the Rev. Richard Allen, began planning for the establishment of a black girls’ school in Texas. After a statewide survey, they chose Crockett as the school site because of a local black parochial school operated by the Rev. Samuel Fisher Tenney, pastor of the city’s first Presbyterian church. The Rev. Allen’s wife Mary, for whom the school was named, was instrumental in raising the organizational funds for the new seminary.”
“Dr. Byrd R. Smith became the school’s first black president in 1924 and initiated a period of growth which included the adoption of new programs the admission of male students. Transferred to the Missionary General Baptist Convention of Texas in 1944, Mary Allen College became a 4-year liberal arts institution. In 1972, plagued by a series of legal and financial setbacks, the school closed.”
“Once the site of a 12-building campus and the home of a noted academic program of quality education and religion, this site serves as a reminder of the proud heritage of Texas’ black population.”
