Thomas C. Crouch - Willis, TX
Posted by: 
jhuoni
N 30° 25.654 W 095° 28.974
15R E 261526 N 3368781
This property is now owned by the Willis ISD, from 1888 to 1901 it was home to the Willis Male and Female College. This bell is a physical reminder of a time long ago.
Waymark Code: WMY6JW
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/01/2018
Views: 1
Dedicated to the memory of Thomas C. Crouch
for the preservation of the bell from the
Willis Male and Female College. (1888 - 1901)
Unfortunately, no information was found on Mr. Crouch. There
is quite a bit available on Willis Male and Female college:
Excerpts from “A History of Montgomery County, Texas” Chapter V, Cities, Towns, and Communities, by William Harley Gandy”
The Willis Male and Female College plant consisted of three buildings, the main building, dining room and kitchen, and one other building. The third floor of the main building was used for laboratories and rooms for boarding students, and at one time housed the dining room and kitchen. At one time there were about two hundred fifty students who boarded in the college and in several houses located on the street to the west of the grounds and in nearby homes or boarding houses. The curriculum of the college provided for the study of ancient languages, history, mathematics, literature, science, vocal and instrumental music, art, and physical culture. The administrators of the college were Reverend S. N. Barker and wife, George W. Stovall, F. P. Crowe, J. A. Kooken, John W. Hoke, M. A. Kline, and Cyril M. Jansky.
A practice at one time of the college was that at a certain hour each week day evening the janitor of the main building would ring a bell which was in a cupola atop the building. The ringing of the college bell was the signal for all boarding students to retire to the study hall of the college for supervised study of two or three hours and those in the homes and the out-in-town boarding houses were supposed to go to their respective study tables and study for a like period of time.
The Texas Historical Marker near by tells the history of the Willis Male and Female College:
Founded 1888, when coeducation was rare. Willis citizens raised funds for 2-1/2 story building put up by contractor Sidney L. Inglet. Taxes funded three of the six months of school; monthly tuition for rest of year ranged from $1.50 (first grade) to $4.00. First directors -- M. H. and S. N. Barker and N. A. Cravens -- sold out (1890) to C. H. Stovall and F. P. Crow, who in turn sold (1894) to Cyril M. Jansky and Marion Kline. College drew boarding students from wide area, and at least two diplomas were awarded. The plant was sold (1901) to city of Willis for public school purposes. (1973)