A boys’ school built by its own students. A girls’ school in Taft. A merger, an architect, a domed gym, a centennial. This is the school’s story as the yearbooks and the public record tell it — every fact cites a yearbook page or a public source.
35 dated milestones14 heads of school documented58 yearbooks · 1958–2018
The century, end to end
1908 → 2028
Tex-MexPres-Mex, TaftPan Ambars = heads of school · dots = named in that year’s Juntos · dashed = dates approximateticks = milestones, click to jump · drag to travel
1890s–1911
Before the school
A church, a ranch, and an idea.
Mexican-American Presbyterian congregations began to appear in Texas in the last decade of the nineteenth century. With the population increase that followed the Mexican Revolution, the church began to assess the need for educational opportunities for immigrants — and remembered two earlier attempts, Aranama College at Goliad and Melinda Rankin's school for girls at Brownsville, that had closed.
Henrietta M. King — widow of Captain Richard King, founder of the King Ranch, and daughter of Rev. Hiram Chamberlain, the first Presbyterian minister in the Rio Grande Valley — offers land south of Kingsville for the school. The Kingsville Chamber of Commerce adds sixty acres.
The Texas-Mexican Industrial Institute opened in October 1912 on land given by Henrietta King. Half a day of classes, half a day of work: dairy, gardens, citrus, woodworking, metal, printing and machine shops. Under Skinner and then McLane it grew from forty-nine students and one teacher to a hundred boys, survived drought, hurricanes and the Depression, and put up the Dallas Dormitory, the Skinner Building and a dining hall of hollow tile.
Classes begin in October at the Texas-Mexican Industrial Institute with 49 students, six of them girls, and one teacher. Rev. James W. Skinner and his students clear and fence the mesquite; sheds meant for shops and barns serve as schoolhouse, dining hall and dorm. After the first year it becomes a boys' school.
A panoramic photograph shows the first frame buildings in a line on the flat. In January Skinner writes to S. Brooks McLane, challenging him to come — and to expect hard work.
Administrator, teacher and registrar, Perry Reed will live on campus for more than thirty years; the 1977 Juntos is dedicated to him, he retires in 1983, and the dining hall carries his name.
52 photographs · shown as the archive publishes them
The South Texas Archives keeps the school’s own photo file. These are the prints it labelled Tex-Mex: the students who built the place, its teams, its print shop and its farm — and, kept in the same file, a few from the sister preparatory school in Coyoacán, Mexico City. Undated unless the print says otherwise.
Teachers of the old Presbyterian preparatory school of Coyoacán, Mexico City — kept in the school’s file.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0554
A group of boys with Mr. McLane, photographed by Mrs. Farnham of Paris, Illinois.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0557
The faculty, with Robert A. Brown, Director, at the centre — the archive names eleven of them.The archive’s caption: “Professor Negrete; Tomas B. Reifinydes; Robert A Brown (Director); Fidel Trevino; Santiago Gomez; Vera de Reifinydes; Professor Vasquez; Maria Rodriguez; Maximo Morales; Ethel Dortes; Professor Ramirez”South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0558
The school truck, a Tex-Mex flag on its nose, and everyone around it.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0560
Seven small boys in a line, hands on each other’s shoulders.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0563
In the cotton field, with a bull.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0564
Bible class on the porch: boys with open books around two women.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0565
Three boys at the arch over the entrance to Tex-Mex.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0567
Men riding the bed of the school truck.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0580
Men and boys of the school in a field, posed for a group picture.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0582
Boys on top of a circular bar, two men beside them.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0584
Two men at work on a house, one up a ladder — the school built by its own students.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0588
The barn that was converted into the dining hall.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0604
A display of the school’s oranges.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0611
A testimonial of gratitude to Dr. Roberto A. Brown from alumni of the old Coyoacán preparatory school.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0628
In front of the Skinner building.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0629
Boys building a house.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0636
A graduating class, in suits.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0645
The baseball team.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0648
William R. Jarvis, recreational director, on the football field.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0653
Ruben Minor and Ruben Gonzales, ‘chief athletic assistant for four years’.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0654
A student at the linotype in the print shop.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0655
The musical group — the archive names eight of them.The archive’s caption: “L–R Francisco Trevino; Jose Hinojosa; Carlos Gutierrez; Marcelo Guerrero; Paul Grier. Back row: Armando Rodriguez; Ovidio Hernandez; Godofredo Gonzalez”Francisco Treviño G. ’57 · José Hinojosa C. ’57 · Carlos Gutierrez ’59South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0657
Baseball: Ricardo Rodriguez at left, Xavier Neira catching, Salvador Delgado throwing.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0659
Godofredo Gonzalez at the food slicer.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0662
Mr. Grier directing the octet in practice for Christmas music, Mr. Nease at the piano.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0663
Students in Skinner Hall with an older gentleman, probably their professor.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0666
Lakeside service: former student Carlos Buck leads.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0667
Mr. and Mrs. Ismael Valero and students in the lunch line.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0668
Students repairing the roof of the machine shop.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0669
A speaker at the podium on stage.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0678
The farm equipment — sold in the summer of 1957.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0691
Students building a house on the Tex-Mex campus; to the right, one already built.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.3068
Construction of ‘building no. 2’, Dr. James William Skinner at the centre.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.3074
1923 · Three students on a porch with the ‘Tex Mex 1923’ banner.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0572
1923 · Mira Greenwood with the ‘Tex Mex 1923’ banner.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0576
1929 · The Coyoacán preparatory school’s Class of 1929, from the school’s file.The archive’s caption: “L–R: Abelino E. Aguirre; Pedro Hernandez; Ismael Maldonado; Juan Rodriguez; Genaro Gamez”South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0607
Opened in October 1924 with money from the Synod of Texas and land and cash from the citizens of Taft, the Presbyterian School for Mexican Girls taught more than 700 young women — 200 of them from Mexico — under Berta Murray. Its dormitories, administration building, practice home, kindergarten and day nursery are gone; the 1952 library survives as a VFW post.
The Presbyterian School for Mexican Girls opens in October in Taft, San Patricio County, financed by the Synod of Texas ($52,928) and the citizens of Taft ($10,000 and 200 acres). Skinner helps set its policy.
7 photographs · shown as the archive publishes them
The girls’ school in Taft left fewer prints in the file: its graduates in caps and gowns, its Sunday-school teachers, and Dr. Berta Murray at a Cinco de Mayo.
Girls from Texas and Mexico conducting Sunday school, every Sunday afternoon.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0638
Girls from Mexico teaching vacation Bible school in the summers.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0639
Cinco de Mayo: Dr. Berta Murray, president of the Presbyterian School for Mexican Girls, second from the left.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0660
1936 · Matilde Jaramillo, a 1936 graduate, in cap and gown.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0608
1936 · The Class of 1936 in caps and gowns, Matilde Jaramillo among them.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0609
1949 · The Class of ’49 in caps and gowns.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0637
1956–
Pan Am
One coeducational, international school.
At its 100th meeting, in Waco in 1955, the Synod of Texas voted to merge the two schools into a Presbyterian Pan American School that would be thoroughly Christian, international, and coeducational. The Taft campus closed in September 1957; the Kingsville campus was rebuilt to a master plan by O'Neil Ford. Since then the school has graduated classes from across the Americas, Asia and Africa, celebrated its centennial in 2011–12, and in 2024 inaugurated a new president in Morris Chapel.
“The Presbyterian Pan American School begins its second fifty years with a real sense of gratitude for the past… but with an even greater sense of optimism for the future. The Panamerican dream is only beginning to come to life. There is a great future.”
At its 100th meeting, in Waco, the Synod of Texas unanimously adopts a long-range study committee's report and takes action to establish a Presbyterian Pan American School — thoroughly Christian, international and coeducational. McLane retires.
The two schools become one under a new president, Rev. Sherwood H. Reisner. The Kingsville campus becomes the home campus and undergoes considerable reconstruction.
The Taft campus closes in September and a coeducational program begins at Kingsville. By the fall the first phase of a new campus designed by architect O'Neil Ford is complete. Most of the older buildings come down; in their place a chapel, dining hall, dormitories, faculty residence and swimming pool.
The 1963 Juntos is a 50th Anniversary Edition. Its Our Heritage pages tell the story from Aranama College to the master plan, whose first phase was completed that September; next on the program of building will be a classroom building and library. The Panamerican dream is only beginning to come to life.
Dormitories for sixty boys and fifty-four girls; a chapel, a classroom building, an office building, a library, a swimming pool and athletic fields. Total enrollment in 1965–66 is 114. From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s students come from a variety of U.S. states as well as Guatemala, Mexico, Congo, Cuba and Colombia.
The 1967 Juntos marks ten years of Pan Am with aerial photographs of the campus in 1959 and 1962. The January board meeting is held in the new classroom building.
For the first time the yearbook prints Reisner's title as Headmaster; the classes are the First, Median and Senior Forms. Enrollment in 1972 is 110, with a faculty of thirteen.
This year Presbyterian Pan American School passed from the ownership of the Synod of Red River to that of the Presbyteries of Texas, the yearbook reports. By 1980 the school is owned and operated by the Board of Trustees in covenant with the five presbyteries in Texas of the Synod of Red River and with the Synod.
David R. Gifford succeeds Reisner, who becomes the first director of a new office of development. Hurricane Allen damages the campus. In September Mrs. Peggy Bell is elected chairperson of the board — her first acts include improvements to the dorms.
Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; the 1988 yearbook notes accreditation by the Texas Education Agency as well. The Synod of the Sun contributes about 7 percent of operating income in 1987–88.
The 75th-anniversary Juntos retells The Story of Pan Am: financial struggles, drought, hurricanes, and other calamities wrecked many of the campus' original buildings. Even so, faith and perseverance were never lost.
The trustee and benefactor whose gifts built the Isabel Thomas Classroom Building, the William Lee Thomas Gymnasium and the Berta Murray Girls' Dormitory, and who helped fund the Reisner Science Building and the remodeling of the McLane Administration Building, dies in Dallas on July 7. His grandson David Thomas is in the class of 1978.
Expected enrollment for 1994–95 is 120, mostly boarding students, from seven countries. Nine trustees are elected by the Synod of the Sun, nine by the board and two by the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico.
In his letter to the class of 2005, Matthews reports a new master plan for a campus that will serve the needs of students for at least the next 50 years, and looks forward to the centennial: 100 years of life-changing events… 100 graduating classes, including the class of 2005.
The graduation of the class of 2011 opens the Centennial Year — the 99th time students have left the friendly confines of this school. The class of 2012 closes it, and Matthews retires with them: the school enters a second century with new leadership. The Texas Historical Commission erects a marker on FM 772 in 2012.
Rev. Dr. Doug Dalglish is the new president in the year the school just graduated largest group of seniors ever, with students from Mexico, Rwanda, Korea and China.
W. Joseph King takes office on August 1. Rev. Suk Jong Lee becomes the school's first chaplain in fifteen years. About seventy students, from Mexico, China, South Korea, Rwanda, Taiwan and Colombia; roughly 91 percent receive scholarship support.
Alumni, trustees and friends gather for a Friday dessert reception and a Saturday ceremony ending in Morris Chapel. Since its beginning, Pan Am has been a visionary project, King says, and in its modern form, it continues to be.
23 photographs · shown as the archive publishes them
A few of the file’s undated prints from the merged school’s first decades. The dated ones sit on the class pages of their year — every class from 1960 to 1972, and 1990 to 1995, has some.
A new building’s frame goes up.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.0683
1967 · The campus from the air, 1966–67.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1679
1971 · Behind the school banner, summer 1971.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.2079
c. 1975 · Drama: a boy and a girl in costume.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1842
c. 1975 · The farm: four men taking hay off a tractor.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1899
c. 1975 · Track: a Pan Am runner in a race.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1906
c. 1975 · The team.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1908
c. 1975 · An archery shoot set up by campus families for a Sunday afternoon.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1915
c. 1975 · The kitchen crew — Lauro, Alberto, Abiud and Nehemias — preparing for the Saturday afternoon ‘hamburger fry’.Lauro L. Pulido ’76 · Abiud Moreno ’76 · Nehemias Herrera ’75South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1921
c. 1975 · The slide into the pool.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1946
c. 1975 · Graduates in white outside the chapel.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1956
c. 1975 · A basketball tournament.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1969
c. 1975 · The boys’ basketball team, Eagles.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1972
c. 1975 · Veterans Day: a colour guard.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.1989
c. 1975 · A class with its teacher, the flag on the wall.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.2004
c. 1975 · Juniors, in formal dress, four rows.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.2012
c. 1975 · A three-legged race.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.2020
c. 1975 · Study hall.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.2046
1980 · Dr. and Mrs. Reisner given a standing ovation by more than four hundred at his retirement, May 16.South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University–Kingsville · A2016-017.2246
The best single account of the school is James S. Currie’s Planting Trees: A History of Presbyterian Pan American School, which the school excerpts on its own site; the Handbook of Texas entries and the 2012 state historical marker fill in the numbers. This page adds what those sources cannot: the yearbooks themselves, page by page, from 1960 to 2018.
