Bishop Hills

Soule University, an early Methodist institution in Chappell Hill, Washington County, was an early center of Methodism in Texas; it replaced Rutersville College, and William Halsey, president at Rutersville, became Soule's first president. The Male Department of another early Methodist school, Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute, became the nucleus for this new university, which was for male students. The Texas Conference of the Methodist Church approved plans for a central university in 1854. Prominent residents on the first board of trustees, lay and clerical, included Robert Alexander, Homer S. Thrall, Gabriel Felder, and Jabez D. Giddings