Henry College, founded in 1892 by educators Henry Bridges and Henry Eastman, was a prominent early institution in Hunt County. It was reestablished and renamed in 1903 for writer Ralph Waldo Emerson as Emerson College, and it closed in 1907. Other early colleges in Hunt County were Calhoun from 1887 to 1899, Texas Holiness from 1899 to 1920, the Elmwood Institute from 1898 to 1906, Burleson from 1895 to 1931, and Wesley from 1914 to 1937. Only East Texas State University, opened in 1894 in Commerce, still operates. Although short-lived, these colleges, like more than 200 chartered in Texas from 1836 to 1875, helped shape early culture.