Abilene, Taylor County
Abilene Christian University began as an educational institution on this block known as the West End residential area. In 1906, Allen Booker Barret, a Tennessee educator and preacher, and five trustees purchased land and a house from Col. John W. Childers. That fall, president Barret, his brother W.S., and Charles H. Roberson opened Childers Classical Institute. The first class comprised 25 students, with 50 enrolling during the school year. In 1920, the institute’s name changed to Abilene Christian College and in 1929, moved to its current site. The college grew slowly at first, but today, thousands of students are enrolled at Abilene Christian University, more than 100 years after its founding.