St. Philip's College: A Point of Pride on San Antonio's Eastside

6 Struggling to Survive: The 1930s

32 Not content with having achieved junior college status , as early as , Bowden and Bishop Capers began meeting with B. W. Harley, the Superintendent of Public Schools with the Board of Education of San Antonio. They requested that supervision of the curriculum be taken over so that St. Philip’s Junior College could meet state standards. This request was denied. Drastic Measures While Bowden and the bishop were attempting to convince the Board of Education to place St. Philip’s under its jurisdiction, in November , a special committee of the Diocesan Executive Board was appointed, with the idea of removing Bowden from her position as president. A further recommendation was that Rev. Patton from the American Church Institute for Negroes make an immediate visit to the college. They wanted him to look at the school and make recommendations for having new management in place by the beginning of the next semester. In an unsigned letter, dated December , , to Dr. R. W. Patton, Director of the American Church Institute for Negroes, the writer solicited Dr. Patton’s assistance in “clearing the college of prejudices that have been created against it because of Miss Bowden’s visionary and unbusinesslike method of managing the college.” The writer continued that the paradox was “[t]he identical weaknesses that Miss Bowden has manifested in the management of the college have created it. If it had not been for her enthusiasm and her dreams of a great institution the college would never have been born. But it is her enthusiasm and her dreams that have led her into statements which have created the prejudices that are now threatening the very life of the institution.” Along with the request for a change in management, the special committee requested that during his visit, Dr. Patton investigate and help them find a capable Negro man to manage the college. The diocese and the Board of Trustees were ready to do everything possible to assist the institution, if they were willing to reorganize the management . Dr. Patton did not make the visit to San Antonio to inspect the school as requested, explaining that he could do nothing by coming. Because the institute and the other schools it supported were so negatively affected by the Depression, sometime after this interchange, the institute withdrew the yearly support it had provided St. Philip’s. Reasons cited were: “We [the Institute] are barely swimming with what we have on us, with our noses just a little above the water, in addition to the fact that the conditions surrounding St. Phillips [sic] preclude the Institute’s assuming responsibility for it.” “One of the chief reasons the Institute could not accept St. Philip’s as an institute school,” wrote Dr. Patton, was that “St. Phillips [sic] has not had, and apparently has no prospect of securing such financial backing as would prevent its relying almost exclusively on the Institute for its support.” In an unsigned three page, single-spaced letter , dated July , , sent to Porter A. Whaley, Chamber  Struggling to Survive: The 1930s We believe that there is a possibility of rendering a very valuable service to this city by offering the facilities and equipment of St.Philip’s Junior College to meet the urgent need of our city and surrounding territory for a Junior College for our Negro youth. Stuggling to Survive: The 1930s • 33 year –. As welcome and as helpful as the gift was, it was not enough to prevent the economic disaster that seemed destined for the school. The financial woes of the college were so acute that foreclosure of the property to satisfy debts was imminent. A Crisis Averted Since Bishop Capers and the Standing Committee of the Diocese of West Texas had signed for thirty-five first mortgage bonds in the amount of $,, to purchase the eight lots on which the school was situated, he appealed to the diocese, informing them of the consequences of foreclosure and the effect that it would have on its reputation. However, there were no monies to redeem the bonds from the bondholders, leaving the real possibility that St. Philip ’s could be sold to pay the debts. Even with the improvements made to the property, the fear was that not enough money would be generated from the sale to pay the entire amount of the debt. Not only could the school be sold to satisfy the indebtedness, if the sale of the college failed to generate enough money to satisfy the amount owed, other properties...