Howard Payne College

Howard Payne College was founded by the Pecan Valley Baptist Association at Indian Creek in June of 1889. J.D. Robnett, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Brownwood, and Noah T. Byars, a blacksmith, are considered the founders of the college. Robnett became president of the first board of trustees and sought out the funds necessary to start the school. He received a huge gift from his brother-in-law, Edward Howard Payne. The first classes were held in September of 1890. It was considered a degree-conferring institution until 1900 then it operated as a member of the Baptist correlated system of schools with a junior college status until 1914 when it again became a senior college. In 1953, Daniel Baker College, which originally had been a Presbyterian college and in 1950 had become the Episcopal College of the Southwest, was consolidated with Howard Payne. Howard Payne College became Howard Payne University in 1974 upon the approval of Baptist General Convention of Texas.