Baylor University History
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How Baylor University got started
In 1841, 35 people in the Union Baptist Association meeting said that they agreed with the reverend and Judge Baylor’s idea to make a Baptist University in the state of Texas. They decided to name it after Judge Robert Emmett Blesdoe (R.E.B.) Baylor.
How a bear was chosen to be Baylor's mascot
On February 1, 1845, Baylor university was officially a university. In 1945, Baylor University celebrated its 100th birthday. In 1914, the Baylor students voted to have a bear be the school’s mascot. In the fall of 1917, the very first bear arrived in Waco, Texas. His name was Ted, but they usually called him Bruin and Bruiser.
Some of Baylor's many bears
Guaranteed to be fun and cuddley
Baylor Founding
The university committee annually celebrates the founding of Baylor University on the anniversary of its charter. In 1995, Baylor celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary, and in 2010 it turned 165 years old, and it is now 170 years old.
The Baylor Founders Medal
Over the past years, 34 men and women have won the Founders Medal. Baptist Minister William M. Tyron was the first to suggest that Baylor should be a Baptist University. After many years without an official mascot, the students at Baylor voted for a bear to be the mascot. When Baylor opened the cost of attendance was about $8-$15. Baylor was the very first Baptist University. Baylor’s motto was “For Church, For Texas.”