Site of Bay View College

Bay View College was an important school of the coastal region, founded for scattered South Texas ranch children by Thomas M. Clark (1856-1943) and Alice Yantis Clark (1857-1913), of the family that founded Texas Christian University. Using the two-story Hotel Portland, which had opened in 1891 but soon stood idle because of a national business recession, and with Mrs. Mollie Allen Turner as associate, they opened Bay View College in Sept. 1894 and taught subjects from primary through junior college levels. Mrs. Clark, who also managed The Home for boarders, taught painting, while Clark taught music and literary subjects. Recreation included riding on student-owned horses, house parties at patron George Fulton's Rincon Ranch twelve miles northeast, and an annual San Jacinto Day sail on Corpus Christi Bay. The first Bachelor of Letters degrees went to a class of three: Wallace Clark, Lucille Long, and Ed Rachal. In time, the campus included a two-story boys' dormitory, a gymnasium, and a two-story chapel. Students came from seventy Texas counties, twelve other states, and Mexico. Some graduates continued to senior colleges and entered professions, while many remained in ranching. In 1916, a hurricane destroyed most of the buildings. A day school session met the next winter in the chapel, but the college formally closed in 1917.

Portland, Texas · United States