Huston–Tilloston University is a merger of two schools. George Jeffrey Tillotson, a Congregational minister from Connecticut, traveled to the Southwest to establish a school for African Americans. He bought several acres and raised $16,000.00 for an educational enterprise. 

While Tillotson gathered funds for his school, Samuel Huston, a wealthy landowner from Iowa, contributed $9,000.00 to create a school for African Americans in the same city. In 1952 the schools merged, becoming Huston-Tillotson College and was among the earliest all-black private colleges established in Texas. 

Legendary mentions: 

• Jackie Robinson, before his baseball career, was an athletic director at Samuel Huston College. He coached the basketball team from 1944–45. Not many students tried out, so Robinson resorted to inserting himself into the lineup for exhibition games.
• Azie Taylor Morton was one of Huston-Tillotson’s most successful graduates. She was Treasurer of the United States during the Carter administration and remains the only African American to hold that office. In Austin, TX the street that runs next to Barton Springs is now named after her. She use to swim in Barton Springs regularly, despite the fact that the pool was a segregated whites only space.