The Old College Bell serves as a memorial to the East Texas Baptist Institute, chartered in 1895, succeeded by the Academy of Industrial Arts in 1907, then Rusk Academy in 1909, which became Rusk Junior College in 1918 and closed in 1928. These institutions exerted a spiritual and educational influence far greater than the size of their origin would suggest, and hundreds of young people went from them to bless their state, nation, and beyond.