Soule Drive as memory place
A street that remembers Soule University, with ties to the first medical college in Texas, Methodism, the Civil War, and the Confederacy
Soule Drive, a very short east-west street on the west side of campus, is named in remembrance of Soule University, one of Southwestern University's four root institutions. It is easy to overlook this street because of its length, and thus, even easier to overlook the name’s connections to Methodism, the Civil War, and the Confederacy. It is also easy to overlook Soule University’s role in establishing Texas’s first medical college in Galveston.
All information on the history of Soule University and the Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute mentioned in this entry comes from To Survive and Excel: The Story of Southwestern University, 1840-2000 and the Texas State Historical Association.
Soule University was named in honor of a Methodist Bishop named Joshua Soule. Soule served as the Bishop presiding over all of the Texas Conferences of the Southern Methodist Church. Soule was from Maine originally, but chose to side with the Southern Methodist Church when the American Methodist Church separated into Northern and Southern branches in 1844 over the question of slavery.
In To Survive and Excel, Jones attributes Soule’s alignment with the Southern Church to the fact that Joshua Soule was a traditionalist, but given that he had the choice to align with either the pro-slavery or anti-slavery side when the country was fully aware of what that choice meant, we can infer that Soule did not see a contradiction between his traditionalist Methodist principles and either the concept or realities of chattel slavery.
Morever, the fact that Soule University was named in honor of him even though he did not play a specific role in the founding of the university named after him in Texas is testament to his stature among Southern Methodists at the time, who we can assume would not have been so celebratory if they thought he did not support their position in relation to the main cause that split the Church. The same might also be inferred for the other college that was established around the same time that carried his name, Soule Female College in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Like Soule Female College in Tennessee, Soule University in Texas was a pioneer in co-education. Soule University was officially chartered in 1856. Its history, however, can be traced a couple of years back to an institution called the Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute. This institution located in Chappell Hill, Texas, would be adopted by Soule University in 1854. Soule University took on the students of the Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute. However, they only took on the male students. The female department of the institution was left to operate on its own, at a “lower level” than the new Soule University.
Soule University was an early center of Methodism in Texas and was a replacement for the dying Rutersville College. William Halsey, who was a president at Rutersville College in 1846, became the first president of Soule University. The enrollment for the first academic year of Soule University totaled 95 students.
Soule’s second president was a man named Reverend George Washington Carter (not to be confused with George Washington Carver). Carter left Soule University for his home in Virginia when anticipating that a civil war would break out. Shortly after returning, his prediction of war became a reality. In Virginia, Carter received a colonel’s commission from the Confederate government. When he returned to Texas, Carter personally drafted three squadrons for the Confederate effort, leading one of these himself. He also strongly encouraged students of Soule University and alumni to join the Confederate war effort. Carter would never return to Soule University. After the Civil War, he became a politician in Reconstruction Louisiana.
The end of the Civil War left Soule University in a bad financial situation due to low enrollment. The university also struggled to find a new president. To solve this, the Board devised a plan to convert the university into a military institute. The Board invited a prominent Confederate general named Alexander Peter Stewart to accept the presidency at Soule to begin this transition to a military focus. The plan to become a military institution was abandoned after Stewart turned down the invitation to become president. Eventually Soule University elected General John Creede Moore as president. He served this role until 1868. Moore was the commander of the Second Texas Infantry during the Civil War.
Right after the Civil War, in 1865, Soule University established a medical department. The medical school was not located in Chappell Hill on the Soule campus; it was established in Galveston. The medical school became independent of Soule University in 1873 during the efforts to establish Southwestern University. The Texas Legislature also passed two enactments which ended Soule’s association with their medical college in Galveston. Although the medical college became a separate entity, Soule University is credited with establishing the first medical school in Texas.
Francis Asbury Mood, Southwestern University’s first president, was the president of Soule University from 1868 to 1872. When he arrived at Soule, he was faced with handling the debt of $17,000 the university incurred. Mood could not obtain financial support from the Board of Trustees or Chappell Hill residents. Many locals, before the Civil War, patronized Soule University. After emancipation, the patrons who financially supported the university could no longer do so because many were bankrupt.
While Mood was president of Soule University, his focus was largely on establishing a central Methodist university in Central Texas. This effort would eventually lead to the formation of Southwestern University in Georgetown. In 1873 the Texas Annual Methodist Conference passed a series of resolutions which completely merged Soule University with Southwestern University. Soule University existed sporadically until 1877 when it eventually fell into obscurity.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, two major problems can explain Soule’s downfall. First, during the Civil War, Soule University closed down from 1861 until 1867. The university closed in 1861 because many of the students enlisted in the Confederate army. While the University was closed, the Confederate army also utilized Soule’s main building, operating it as a hospital. During that time, the classrooms were badly damaged and many library books and school equipment were either damaged or lost. Second, when Soule reopened in 1867, an outbreak of Yellow Fever swept through this part of Texas. Many residents and students passed away due to Yellow Fever, which was detrimental to enrollment numbers. Additionally, parents did not want to send their children to Soule University because the epidemic was especially bad in the area.
After writing the entry for McKenzie Drive and this entry for Soule Drive, I noticed a lot of parallels between the two root institutions. The most striking similarity in my opinion is how highly involved these institutions were in the Confederate war effort. Students from both universities were a part of the Civil War effort, fighting against the Union. McKenzie College has more obvious ties to slavery and the Confederacy as the institution relied on slave labor to stay in good financial standing and the founder was a slave owner himself. Soule University’s ties to slavery are less obvious. However, they very much exist. Soule University relied at least partially on funding from local slave owners. The end of the Civil War and thus the emancipation of enslaved people showed just how reliant both institutions were on the slave economy. Other parallels between McKenzie College and Soule University can be observed as well. Before the Civil War, both institutions were regarded as prestigious and offered students an excellent education. Additionally, both were founded on principles of Methodism.
Today, Southwestern University having a street named Soule Drive has very similar implications to having a street named McKenzie Drive. At their core, both street names are memorializations of two of our root institutions. Both street names, however, memorialize a troubling past associated with slavery, the Confederacy, and the Civil War. These two names are celebrated by Southwestern University because they are tied to the claim that Southwestern was the first university in Texas, but that claim usually ignores the baggage that comes with it.
If I were to ask my fellow peers if they were aware of the significance of these two street names, they likely would recognize that they are both root institutions. I doubt, however, that they would be aware of the problematic histories associated with these names. I think that, because Southwestern University prides itself on having progressive values, it would be best for the university to acknowledge this history. I do not believe that these streets should be renamed because that would allow Southwestern to ignore its ties to these institutions and their problematic pasts. While I myself cannot speak on behalf of Southwestern students of color, it seems like a disservice to them for Southwestern University to continue ignoring the racist history of the figures associated with these street names. Being transparent and honest about what these names are remembering seems like the most responsible thing to do.
