In this blog post I am going to share a brief article I wrote on Sallie Brooke Capps, the subject of my new book. The article was published by North Texas e-News in December 2020.
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| Sallie B. Capps, c. 1900 |
Sherman, Texas -- Since its founding in the late 1840s, Sherman—a fairly-concealed, quant gem in North Texas—has been the home to several celebrities, including silent film actress Stella Adams, award-winning musician and heartthrob Buck Owens, Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl XLI champion footballer Hunter Smith, and distinguished FBI Agent Charles B. Winstead. Besides this group of renowned personalities, Sherman has also been the home to a large number of unknown, yet equally industrial community leaders. In this article I will shed light on Sallie Brooke Capps, an education reformer who matured into a young woman and received a quality education whilst in Sherman.
Sarah Angel Brooke—nicknamed Sallie by friends—was born in Sherman on September 16, 1864 to Nancy Caledonia Chaffin and Dr. John Brooke. Her mother was the daughter of a Missourian farming tycoon and her father is best known by local historians as the owner of Sherman’s first drug store, which used to be on the plot of land that the Touch of Class Antique Mall currently sits. As a young child, Sallie developed interests in writing and astronomy. She frequently described colorful dreams in her journal and spent numerous hours observing the night sky’s constellations in the open fields behind the family residence. Moreover, Sallie was an avid collector of poetry, accumulating a prolific collection of literature on nature, including William Shakespeare’s Winter and William Ross Wallace’s The Hands that Rocks the World.
Sallie took preparatory courses in English, mathematics, and instrumental sciences at the Sherman Male and Female High School between 1869 and 1874. The coeducational institution, housed in the former two-story Odd Fellows Hall, enrolled white children from Collin and Grayson Counties between the ages of 4 and 17. Sallie received instruction from several award-winning teachers, including Reverend William P. Petty, Mrs. Burrell Smith of Oklahoma, and St. Louis native J.C. Parks. Following the high school’s acquisition by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1874, Sallie’s education underwent many changes. In line with southern principles which encouraged the sexes to play different roles in society, Sallie’s male colleagues were transferred to a separate high school on the outskirts of town that was headed by Civil War veteran John Henry LeTellier. Moreover, the high school’s existing curriculum was modified to resemble the existing academic programs at liberal arts colleges; electives in engineering, agriculture, and home economics were offered to the young women. On May 28, 1877, the high school’s curriculum was upgraded again, and the North Texas Female College was officially incorporated.
Since the president of North Texas Female College, James Reid Cole saw potential in the young former Sherman high school students, he persuaded the administration to grant admission to white girls aged 5 to 18. In December 1877, the college, now relocated to the current location of Kidd-Key Auditorium, had seven teachers and enrolled more than 200 students, including 13-year-old Sallie. Sallie excelled in her preparatory classes, including world geography, United States history, and English grammar, literature, and composition. In high school, Sallie tackled collegiate-level classes—which, according to the 1880 college bulletin, were all listed as challenging—including Latin composition, mental arithmetic, ancient history and mythology, geometry, astronomy, moral sciences, and logic. Sallie’s time as a student came to a close in the summer of 1882 when she completed three days of examinations and received her academic diploma. Since state education records show that less than 30 percent of women in Texas received a high school diploma in the 1880s, Sallie’s academic record was outstanding and notable.
With a diploma in hand and craving for adventure, Sallie moved to Fort Worth on September 28, 1884. Yet, it was not long before the young woman returned to Sherman to marry her life partner. Sallie tied the knot with William Capps, a renowned attorney and editor of the Fort Worth Record, on June 1, 1887. The ceremony, which was recorded by the Sherman Daily Register, took place at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and officiated by Reverend Alexander Charles Garrett. After the wedding the Capps’s moved into the Queen Anne’s House on Penn Street, which is currently home to the Dent Law Firm.
Sallie would later become president of the Fort Worth Kindergarten Association, an organization that persuaded politicians in Austin to support the 1909 Kindergarten Bill, which permitted school boards to establish nurseries. Furthermore, she was chosen by Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt as a Regent at the College of Industrial Arts in Denton in 1911. During an 18-year period, Sallie played an instrumental role on the institution’s Board, assisting the administration in a curriculum overhaul, hiring two presidents, providing voting information to the female students in wake of the Nineteenth Amendment, and persuading the leadership to expand the campus’s physical plant, which included a residence hall named in her honor. Sallie’s industrious efforts in promoting and enlarging the number of academic opportunities at the college paid off; Texas Woman’s University (what the college became in 1957) became the largest state-supported institution of higher learning for women in the United States.
Grey-haired Sallie continued to advocate for better academic opportunities for women and children in North Texas during her retirement. After an illustrious career as a committed educator and public servant, Sallie Brooke Capps died in Fort Worth on July 16, 1946—she was 81 years old. Although public memory of her noted career has diminished over the years, it is without question that Sallie Brooke Capps appropriately holds a seat among Sherman’s historical standouts as one of the city’s trailblazers in education.
**Author’s Note: More information on Sallie B. Capps’s life, career, and family may be found in the author’s book titled Sallie Brooke Capps: Education Trailblazer in North Texas (spring 2021).
Capps's grave is located at Fort Worth's Greenwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum.
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The book has been praised by numerous local scholars, history buffs, and education enthusiasts. I am grateful for the support I have received thus far. Sallie's illustrious story is gradually being remembered and retold. My North Texas e-News article was recently used by Texas Woman's University when they wrote a featured article on the significance of their buildings' namesakes (although the original Capps Hall was demolished in the 1980s, TWU constructed a block of student apartments on campus in the late 2010s and named them in honor of Capps). Also, Dr. Carine M. Feyten, chancellor and president of TWU, mentioned my book in her May 2021 newsletter. I hope you enjoyed the book Dr. Feyten. Since my original goal was to spread the word on Capps, I am incredibly proud to showcase her story in a richly-detailed volume that has landed in the laps of many history fans. We all need to continue sharing the vibrant stories of those who deserve a place in the history books but have been overshadowed.
Boldly Go newsletter by TWU Chancellor Carine M. Feyten: https://twu.edu/chancellor/communications/boldly-go-newsletter/may-2021/
What's in a name? Part XIII article: https://inside.twu.edu/read/whats-in-a-name-part-xiii
North Texas e-News article: http://www.ntxe-news.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=83&num=121253&printer=1
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| The Lowry Woods Community is a group of student apartment blocks on campus. One of the blocks is named in honor of Regent Capps. (TWU photograph) |
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