Daniel Baker College was founded April 5, 1889 in Brownwood, Texas

Brownwood, Texas

Brownwood is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,813 at the 2000 census.-History:The original site of the Brown County seat of Brownwood was on the east of Pecan Bayou. A dispute arose over land and water rights, and the settlers were forced...

 and was named in memory of the Rev. Dr. Daniel Baker, a Presbyterian circuit-riding

Circuit rider

Circuit rider is a term originating from the United States for any professional who travels a regular circuit of locations to provide services, and has several specific applications:...

 minister, who helped organize the first presbytery in Texas in 1840 and Austin College

Austin College

Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated by covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church and located in Sherman, Texas, about 60 miles North of Dallas....

 in 1849.

Baker was born on August 17, 1791 at Midway

Midway, Georgia

Midway is a city in Liberty County, Georgia, United States. It is a part of the Hinesville-Fort Stewart metropolitan statistical area. Midway is situated near Savannah, Brunswick, St. Simons Island, and Jekyll Island. The population was 1,100 as of the 2000 census.Midway has several museums...

, Liberty County

Liberty County, Georgia

Liberty County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 61,610. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 60,503...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, he was the second president of Austin College (1853 – 1857), and he died in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 on December 10, 1857.

Daniel Baker College was founded by Dr. B. T. McClelland, fulfilling the plans of the Austin Presbytery to open a Presbyterian college for west Texas. Dr. McClelland, a Presbyterian minister and a graduate of Oberlin College

Oberlin College

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

 and Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...

, founded the first Presbyterian church in Brownwood in 1886. As the first president of Daniel Baker College, Dr. McClelland almost singlehandedly, kept the college open during its early years, through his own personal determination. Their mascot was a goat named Hillbilly

Hillbilly

Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...

, which complemented their nickname, and the college's motto was Veritas et Humanitas, meaning "Truth and Humanity."

The institution was plagued with financial difficulties and was consolidated with nearby Howard Payne College (now Howard Payne University

Howard Payne University

Howard Payne University is a four-year private university located in Brownwood, Texas.Currently the university enrolls 1,400 full-time students. Howard Payne is known for the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom, its Music program and its Christian Studies program...

) in 1953. Its campus was taken over by Howard Payne University

Howard Payne University

Howard Payne University is a four-year private university located in Brownwood, Texas.Currently the university enrolls 1,400 full-time students. Howard Payne is known for the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom, its Music program and its Christian Studies program...

 and the main building renovated as the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom.

Notable alumni

• Novalyne Price Ellis
  Novalyne Price Ellis
  Novalyne Price Ellis was a Texas-born schoolteacher and writer who became close friends with and occasionally dated famed pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard....
  
   -- a school teacher and speechwriter whose memoir was adapted into a movie.
• Umphrey Lee
  Umphrey Lee
  Umphrey Lee was the President of Southern Methodist University from 1939 to 1954.-Biography:Umphrey Lee was born in Oakland City, Indiana on March 23, 1893. He attended Daniel Baker College from 1910 to 1912, received a B.A from Trinity University in 1914, an M.A. from Southern Methodist...
  
   - President of Southern Methodist University
  Southern Methodist University
  Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...