Last updated: December 10, 2023
Place
Florence Robinson Cottage
Photograph by Charles Peveto, courtesy of the Texas State Historic Preservation Office
Quick Facts
Location:
Washington Place at Emma B. Smith Blvd., Jarvis Christian College, Hawkins, Texas
Significance:
Listed in the National Register - reference number 00000453
Designation:
Ethnic Heritage - Black, Education
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
The Florence Robinson Cottage, on the Jarvis Christian University campus in Hawkins, Texas, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The property is significant as one of two extant pre-World War II buildings on the Jarvis Christian University campus, which is a longstanding educational institution for Black students in Hawkins and an HBCU.
In 1904, the Negro Disciples of Christ partnered with the Christian Women's Board of Missions to begin planning a school for Black youth. In order to build the school, they needed land to build the school on, and $11,000 in donations. Ida Van Zandt Jarvis and her husband, Major James Jones Jarvis, were solicited to donate land for the school. The Jarvises were well-known throughout the state for their contributions to Christian higher education, including what is now Texas Christian University. Despite both coming from slaveholding families, the Jarvises were convinced to support the education of young Black people, and they donated over 450 acres of land toward the effort in 1910.
The school began construction in 1912, and began teaching high school courses in 1914. In 1927, Jarvis started to offer junior college courses, and the school became incorporated as a college the following year; by 1938, high school courses were eliminated from the curriculum. Until 1933, the school was the only school in the entire county that offered accredited secondary education.
Students and alumni began construction on the Florence Robinson Cottage in 1939. Upon its completion in 1941, the building served as the residence for the college's second president, Peter C. Washington. After his term as president ended in 1949, the building became the college's guest house.
With limited resources that were typical of Black institutions of the time, most of the historic buildings on the Jarvis campus were constructed of wood and by students. A majority of these buildings from the first half of the 20th century were destroyed by fire, demolished, or sold. The cottage itself fell into disrepair by the 1970s, but was restored in 1978 through the help of a donation from Florence Robinson, a former teacher at the school. In 2022, the school began to offer graduate degrees, becoming a university in the process.
In 1904, the Negro Disciples of Christ partnered with the Christian Women's Board of Missions to begin planning a school for Black youth. In order to build the school, they needed land to build the school on, and $11,000 in donations. Ida Van Zandt Jarvis and her husband, Major James Jones Jarvis, were solicited to donate land for the school. The Jarvises were well-known throughout the state for their contributions to Christian higher education, including what is now Texas Christian University. Despite both coming from slaveholding families, the Jarvises were convinced to support the education of young Black people, and they donated over 450 acres of land toward the effort in 1910.
The school began construction in 1912, and began teaching high school courses in 1914. In 1927, Jarvis started to offer junior college courses, and the school became incorporated as a college the following year; by 1938, high school courses were eliminated from the curriculum. Until 1933, the school was the only school in the entire county that offered accredited secondary education.
Students and alumni began construction on the Florence Robinson Cottage in 1939. Upon its completion in 1941, the building served as the residence for the college's second president, Peter C. Washington. After his term as president ended in 1949, the building became the college's guest house.
With limited resources that were typical of Black institutions of the time, most of the historic buildings on the Jarvis campus were constructed of wood and by students. A majority of these buildings from the first half of the 20th century were destroyed by fire, demolished, or sold. The cottage itself fell into disrepair by the 1970s, but was restored in 1978 through the help of a donation from Florence Robinson, a former teacher at the school. In 2022, the school began to offer graduate degrees, becoming a university in the process.