Harry L. Willett Foundation to Match $50,000 Grant for Texas Hall Stabilization Plan

DECEMBER 11, 2025

Preservation Texas has been awarded two grants to hire a professional structural engineering firm experienced in historic masonry buildings to conduct an assessment of Texas Hall in Tehuacana and to design plans for its stabilization. The Harry L. Willett Foundation notified Preservation Texas that it will provide a grant of $50,000 to match a previously announced grant of $50,000 from the Texas Historical Commission's Preservation Trust Fund. This funding will result in plans that are a critical next step toward the building's short-term protection and eventual restoration in the longer term. 

OTHER UPDATES

We have also accepted a generous donation of a lightly used Viking commercial stove from Justin Dudley. This stove is being installed in the commercial kitchen in Louisiana Hall (dormitory) to replace the 1950s stove that is long past its prime.

PT staff and volunteers have begun preliminary work at the PT Institute property in Tehucana. Over 60 cubic yards of trash have been removed from the 1940s Barracks and in the process important historic artifacts have been identified and saved. We have also installed a temporary tarp over areas of the Barracks roof that were actively leaking, and plan to replace its roof in the short term. Plumbing repairs are nearly completed for Louisiana Hall which suffered numerous leaks after a freeze last year.

We have acquired several artifacts associated with Westminster College, including a 1920s saxophone owned by a member of the college band as well as a diploma. We welcome potential donations of artifacts associated with Tehuacana, particularly the schools that occupied the campus: Trinity University (1869-1902), Westminster College (1902-1950), and the later Congregational Methodist-run Westminster Junior College and Bible Institute (1953-1972).