UMHB Ely-Pepper Hall

In the 1800s, the prevailing attitude in Texas was skepticism toward female education. It was a low priority, funds were often lacking, and women were generally discouraged from going to college. In 1845, Baylor University at Independence was chartered along with a Female Department. In 1866, the female department was granted its own charter and called Baylor Female College. Elli Moore played an instrumental role in the growth and stability of Baylor Female College.

Elli Moore came from a distinguished and well-to-do family in La Grange, Texas. She enrolled in Baylor Female College at Independence in 1876 and graduated at seventeen. She returned to her father’s plantation to teach the country children for a year before going to Philadelphia where she studied art, music, allocution, and forensics. She was delighted when President John Hill Luther invited her to teach at Baylor Female College. When the college moved to Belton in 1886, Miss Moore went along as Lady Principal. During that time, she became very ill and was told she might not live more than six months. However, she let her friends and family know that “she could not die because she had work to do.”

Elli Moore’s burning passion was “to help girls of ambition and limited funds to get an education.” Many of her ideas met with resistance primarily from male colleagues, but she would not be deterred. As a 21-year-old teacher, she requested and received authorization from the trustees to solicit funds for a new roof for Luther Hall. While she was trusted to raise the funds, she was not trusted to disperse them without the assistance of a male committee.

In 1888, she asked the college for permission to build a cooperative living house on campus where poor but deserving young women could live and work to earn money to pay their college expenses, but the trustees refused to grant permission for what was considered a “radical idea.” A sympathetic trustee offered her a plot of land west of campus for a nominal price, and using her personal funds, Elli enlisted carpenters to build a rustic, basic cottage with donated lumber. The cottage became home to twelve young women.

Elli taught for twelve years when she decided to resign her teaching position in 1893 and direct her efforts into bringing her Cottage Home plan to fruition. However, in 1893, with no backlog of supplies, a dollar a week in board found the women close to starvation. Miss Moore shared their hardships, and she was convinced their prayers would be heard. With a small chest of heirloom jewelry and mementos from her childhood as collateral, Elli borrowed money from the Belton National Bank to purchase groceries for the girls.

In the early years in Belton, conditions at Baylor Female College were stark, and rules were rigid. College was not for the fainthearted but only for the “ambitious.” Among the rules was the requirement that all students keep their own financial accounts, remain on campus during Christmas, report any violations of rules, tend the garden, keep house, cook, do chores, milk cows, study, and attend all classes. The Cottage Home system was the forerunner of the student work study program.

Miss Moore married Ernest Gale Townsend in September 1899 in the chapel of Baylor Female College. Dr. Townsend was dean, Bible teacher, and interim president of the college. By the time they married, the Cottage Home system had expanded to the point that the seven frame cottages were bursting at the seams. Mrs. Townsend’s desire was to replace the shoddily-built cottages with a large, permanent building. Donations were accepted, notably from two men after whom the new building was named: Reverend E. C. Ely and J. H. Pepper. Pepper gave $10,000 in memory of his wife, Rosanna. The cornerstone was laid in 1903 and the building was dedicated on November 12, 1906. The floor plan was almost identical to that of Stribling Hall. At various times, the dining hall, bookstore, and post office were in the basement. In the late 1960s, the building was converted to classroom and office space and then eventually torn down.

The Belton Journal reported that by 1921 “the number of girls increased from twelve to four hundred, and the buildings from one cottage to three large dormitories and three cottages. Since the founding of the cottage home, more than a quarter of a million dollars has passed through the hands of Mrs. Townsend and has been used in aiding ambitious girls in securing a higher education.”

In the 1990s, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor received over $1 million from the estate of Corrine Remschel who was inspired by Elli Moore Townsend. Remschel Residence Hall was built and stands as a reminder of the passion, dedication, and work of Mrs. Townsend.

Cheaney, Winifred A. Chapters from Life. Belton: E.M. Townsend, c1901.

McKown, Portia Sikes. “Elli Moore Townsend.” From Baptist Women on the Frontier: a Panel. Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall 2003.