Soule University opened in 1856 when it assumed the charter of Chappell Hill Male and Female College near Brenham, Texas. The university's three-story stone building pictured above was dedicated in 1861. The institution ambitiously planned not only chairs of law and Biblical studies, but also medicine. Soule University was the first Texas school to establish a medical department. During the Civil War, the building was used as a Confederate convalescent hospital; equipment disappeared and the building was damaged. The university struggled financially, and economic problems after the war along with a yellow fever epidemic spelled its doom. Soule closed its doors in 1887.