COLLEGIATE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION BEGINS IN HOUSTON IN 1947
As public higher education in Houston was being born through an effort to keep schools segregated in the mid-1900s, religious universities began to flourish in the city.
In 1947, the Basilian Fathers, a group of Catholic priests devoted to teaching, established the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic college in the Montrose neighborhood. The first class of 40 students, according to the Texas State Historical Association, was taught by eight faculty members.
St. Thomas originally offered liberal arts degrees to undergraduate students, but eventually began adding graduate programs, beginning with the School of Theology in 1968, through which students could earn a master of divinity degree.
In the 1960s, the Baptist General Convention of Texas established a four-year liberal arts college in Houston, according to the Texas State Historical Association. A freshman class of 191 students attended the college in 1963. The college grew rapidly over the next decade and became Houston Baptist University in 1973.