02/21/2026
This photograph taken by Fred Gildersleeve in circa 1914, shows a large student group at Paul Quinn College in Waco, Texas. The school was once located at 1020 Elm Avenue, Waco, Texas. This African American institution has its origins in Austin, Texas, beginning in 1872, as the Connectional High School and Institute for Negro Youth. When it moved to Waco in 1877, on 8th and Mary Streets, it was known as Waco College and taught trades such as blacksmithing, carpentry, and tanning to newly freed slaves.
It became Paul Quinn College in 1881, and was named after Bishop William Paul Quinn, the fourth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was then relocated to Elm Avenue in east Waco on 20 acres of land that was once part of the Garrison Plantation. By 1979, the operating budget of the college was 2.5 million dollars and was funded by the A.M.E. Church, United Negro College Fund, federal funding, and private donations. In 1990, Paul Quinn College moved to Dallas, Texas, where it is still in operation to this day and is the oldest liberal arts college for African Americans in the state of Texas.
This image was created by digitizing Fred Gildersleeve’s original 8x10-inch glass plate negative from the Gildersleeve-Du Congé Collection #1149, located in The Texas Collection, Baylor University. Digital Image ID: tx-gildersleeve-1149-pho_b001-f07-i689.