Burleson College, visible from miles around, stood on the west side of Greenville for 35 years from 1895 to 1930. During Burleson’s existence, it had 14 presidents, 447 faculty members, 8, 398 students, and 1,168 graduates. Burleson was set up in 1895 by S. J. Anderson, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Greenville, and it was named for Dr. Rufus C. Burleson, a former president of Baylor University.

Burleson was a two-year junior college, and it also had an academy that consisted of grades eight through 12. You could, therefore, receive your high school diploma and then receive an AA {associates degree in arts} Degree after graduating from the college.

Burleson was supported mainly by the Southern Baptists of Greenville, but the businessmen of Greenville also at different times had drives to raise money for the college.

There were many organizations that the students at Burleson were involved in. The four societies were the four literary societies, two for the bous and two for the girls. The two boys’ literary societies were the Herculean and Platonian societies. The girls societies were the Burlesonian and Adelphian societies.

A big club in the school was the drama club. They presented plays all during the year, both to the Burleson students and also to the small towns around Greenville. They sometimes presented opperettas and these were done at the old King Opera House, which stood where Henson’s is today. [Intersection of Stonewall and Wesley]

Burleson College also had an orchestra, oratorical association, and a ministerial association. There was also a volunteer band made up of students who had surrendered their lives for special service to God.

Along with the larger clubs, there were also some smaller clubs. One of the clubs was the “Never Study Club.” The motto was “Never do today, what you can put off until tomorrow.” Two other clubs of this type were the “Never Blue Club” and the “Reverse English Club.”

During World War I, in 1918, the SATC was formed. Every boy who was 18 had to register for the war, even though they were not all chosen. Those who were, though, were members of the SATC. There were 122 members in the company at Burleson and they went to school in the morning and then drilled in the afternoon.

Burleson had a great sports department. IN 1922, the Burleson Bruins were the state champions with the great Woody Wilson as their coach. In 1923, the Bruins had a new member and this was Rastus, the mascot of the team. He was given to the team by Hellon Alexander who was the owner of the dog. He was given to her by John Wright, who was one of the yell leaders at Burleson. Burleson also had a great track, baseball, basketball and tennis program.

Along with the serious times at Burleson, thee were also many pranks pulled by the students there. On Halloween one year, some boys decided to put the president’s buggy on top of the main building of Burleson. They took the Buggy completely apart, took the pieces to the top of the building, and then they put it back together again. The president was very surprised the next morning to find his buggy on top of the college.

Burleson college had to shut down in 1930 because of a lack of money to support the college.

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