Carr-Burdette College

Carr-Burdette College (1904)

Carr-Burdette College

Location: Sherman, Texas, USA

Opened: 1894

Closed: 1929

Mattie Carr - Founder and First President 
of Carr-Burdette College (1904)

Carr-Burdette College was a preparatory school and junior college for women. The founders of the school were O. A. and Mattie F. (Myers) Carr. After missionary work in Australia and administrative duties in Kentucky and Missouri, the Carrs moved to Sherman in the early 1890s. The rapid growth of the North Texas area, partly a result of the emerging agribusiness centers Denison and Sherman convinced the Carrs that a preparatory school for young women was needed.

Mattie financed the construction of a large brick building by selling 250 lots at $200 each in Sherman. The "Girls' Home," as Carr called it, sat on an eight-acre campus. The Carrs planned to leave the institution to the Christian Church at Sherman. The college opened in 1894, and for the next fourteen years Mattie Carr directed its development.

The school consisted of a two and a half story brick building on an eight-acre campus.  The first floor was for the "parlors" of the school, the living quarters of Mr. and Mrs. Carr and the dining rooms and kitchen.

The third floor was occupied by the department of music, art and "elocution," and the second floor was used as a dormitory for the girls.

The first catalogue of the college was published in 1894-95 and was entitled "Carr-Burdette Christian College, a Home and School for Girls!" 

The catalogue contained information about the eight-acre campus and the number of fruit trees and raspberry, blackberry and grapevines on the tract.

It described the garden of the school a short distance from the campus that would supply the summer and fall vegetables for the college tables.

In the same description, it said; "Next year we hope to have a poultry yard to supply the college with chickens and eggs and if 15 good brethren will each donate a cow to the college, they will recognize when they visit us that our table fare is above that of the average boarding school."
After Mattie Carr's death in 1907 the Christian Church in Sherman took control of the administrative duties. O. A. Carr died in 1913. During the next sixteen years the enrollment and finances of Carr-Burdette College peaked, stabilized, and then began a slow decline. In 1929 the institution closed. In April 1939 the property was sold, and the two brick buildings were razed.