From 1893 to 1954
Two years after the Civil War, four ministers from different parts of Texas met under a large oak tree in Wheatville, Texas (at what is now the corner of 25th and Leon Streets in West Campus near The University of Texas at Austin). They agreed to divide Texas into four divisions of associations. After this meeting in 1867, these ministers went to their respective sections of the state and organized the great regional Black Baptist assocations of Texas: St. John Regular Baptist Association, Lincoln Baptist Association, Guadalupe Baptist Association, and Mt. Zion Baptist Association.
In 1893, Dr. Lee Lewis Campbell became moderator of the St. John Regular Baptist Association, the largest of the associations, covering Central Texas. Moderator Campbell negotiated plans for an orphan Home and School. He purchased three hundred and fifty (350) acres of ranch land, and in 1906, built St. John Orphan Home. The St. John Orphanage was about a mile north of the University of Texas main campus (where the ACC Highland campus is presently located). A three-story stone building was erected for the home of over three hundred orphan girls and a two-story frame building for a boys' dormitory.
By the late 1920s, however, the orphan's home had begun to fall on hard times. Farmers raised crops on the orphanage's property to help meet mortgage payments and maintenance costs, but declining agricultural prices shrunk incomes. The orphan home and school steadily lost pupils and tuition after the City of Austin's 1928 Master Plan moved all public services for African-Americans to East Austin. In 1927, Rev. Campbell died. Rev. M. Hurd was moderator from 1924 to 1930. Rev. A. K. Black became moderator in 1932.
During the 1930s, the Great Depression crushed both agricultural and industrial markets, further reducing the Association's revenue flow. The St. John Orphanage and School closed in 1942. A businessman named Russell Lombard, owner of Crescent Industries, held an option to buy the property if the St. John Association ever sold it. Lombard proposed building a Black housing division but eventually gave up on his plans. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) initiated new loan requirements in the 1950s, particularly larger down payments and less time to pay off the loans, thus precluding many Black families from loan eligibility. This would have made it difficult to recoup his investment. The property remained idle for the next 15 years.
During the 1950s, racial tensions escalated, particularly in the wake of Brown vs Board of Education, and white landowners pressured the association to sell. Despite threats and constant intimidation, Rev. Black emphatically said, “This land is not for sale.” However, selling appealed to some members of the St. John Association given the organization's dire financial straits. Dr. Everett Givens, an Austin dentist and Black community leader, urged the Association to give up the idea for a Black subdivision and cautioned against opposing white development, reminding everyone of the displacement of the Wheatville community and that any development would require the cooperation of a hostile City government.
On August 1, 1956, Rev. Black announced the impending sale of the orphanage tract to a Houston developer. The price tag was $600,000, enough to satisfy Rev. Black and some (but not all) members of the St. John Association. Under the threat of bankruptcy and unable to raise development capital itself, the association had no other realistic option. Eleven days after the sale was announced, the dilapidated building burned to the ground. Although the timing was suspicious, no proof of arson ever emerged, and it did not effect the sale terms.
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