In 1837 the University of San Augustine was chartered by the Republic of Texas. Nominally a state institution, it soon fell under the control of the Presbyterians. This caused some bad feelings among the people of San Augustine and, in 1844, the Methodists, under the leadership of Francis Wilson, established a rival institution, the Wesleyan Male and Female College. Since the town was too small to support two schools, neither thrived, and in 1848, the University of Eastern Texas was established as an attempt to unite both institutions into a state school. This school soon failed due to poor management. In 1850 the Masonic Institute of San Augustine, careful to remain nonsectarian, established a school, divided into Male and Female Departments and utilizing both buildings. This school flourished until the Civil War. (Crocket, George L. Two Centuries in East Texas: A History of San Augustine County and Surrounding Territory, From 1685 to the Present Time. Dallas: The Southwest Press, 1932.)