Concrete College, founded by the Rev. John Van Epps Covey and operating from 1865 to 1881, was one of the most respected schools in Texas in its day. It offered instruction from the primary grades through collegiate levels, though only students over 12 years old were accepted for college work. Its broad curriculum included classical and modern languages, penmanship, music on piano, guitar, violin, and flute, as well as homemaking and etiquette for girls. A popular business school taught bookkeeping, banking, commercial law, and letter-writing. Enrollment averaged 100 boarding and day students and reached 250 in 1873. On weekdays, pupils rose at 5 a.m., walked briskly before breakfast, attended devotional services, and went to classes, while evenings were set aside for study and discussion until lights out at 9 p.m. Gambling, liquor, smoking, and profanity were strictly forbidden. Because paper was expensive, students wrote lessons on slates and then recited them to the instructor. June graduation brought public speeches and oral examinations. The college closed in 1881 after epidemics broke out and the railroad bypassed the town of Concrete, and years later the rock walls of its main building were crushed for road surfacing, leaving only rubble at the site.