This Week in Texas Methodist History January 14

Stamford District Votes to Raise Funds for a Stamford Memorial Building at McMurry, January 1944

In January 1944 the Stamford District Conference of the Northwest Texas Conference voted to participate in the fund-raising effort under way at McMurry College in Abilene.   Although World War II had resulted in decreased enrollments in Methodist colleges, McMurry was trying to raise $1,750,000 for new buildings and endowment.  About $700,000 had already been raised in pledges and cash.  

Members of the District Conference joined the effort with the expectation that one of the new buildings would be designated Stamford Memorial to honor the memory of Stamford College which had existed from 1907 to 1918.  Founding schools had been a major priority of the Northwest Texas Conference.  It should be remembered that before 1910 the Conference boundaries included what later became the Northwest Texas Conference.  They had already founded schools in Clarendon, Blooming Grove, Belle Plain, Granbury, Fort Worth, and Weatherford.  

Stamford College had begun with an appropriation of $67,000 from the conference and a donation of 20 acres from the city of Stamford.  The school usually had between 200 and 300 students, but drought and World War I caused the enrollment to drop to about 100.  The administration building burned in 1918, and that was the last straw.  Its remaining assets were divided between the city and St. John's Methodist in Stamford.  

Unlike most closed colleges, Stamford had a new life.  The last president of the college was James Winfred Hunt.  He presented a plan to open a new school in Abilene.  The conference accepted the plan and in 1923 McMurry opened with Hunt as president.  He remained in that position until his death in 1934.

In 1949 Stamford graduates were recognized as alumni of McMurry.  Although Stamford College existed for only two decades, several of its former students became missionaries and preachers.  Among them were J. O. Quattlebaum, Ira C. Kiker, Joe Boyd, and Rev. and Mrs. J. Caperton Pace.