Preservation Texas Awarded $50,000 Grant from the Texas Historical Commission

NOVEMBER 13, 2025

The Texas Historical Commission has notified Preservation Texas that it has been awarded the maximum $50,000 matching grant through the Texas Preservation Trust Fund program. The grant will support the development of a stabilization plan for Texas Hall in Tehuacana—one of the state’s most endangered historic landmarks. 

Pictured above: Texas Hall in 2025

Preservation Texas acquired Texas Hall in October, along with several other historic buildings on the 10-acre campus that formerly housed Trinity University and Westminster College.

The grant will help fund a comprehensive structural assessment and stabilization plan of Texas Hall that will be carried out by a professional engineering team. They will evaluate the building’s condition, document damage using photography and drone imaging, and create detailed designs to halt further deterioration and prepare for future restoration. This is a critical first step toward saving Texas Hall, which suffered a major roof collapse in 2021 after years of neglect. Stabilization will protect the structure in the short term until a full rehabilitation can be undertaken.

Pictured above: Texas Hall in its current condition after the roof collapse over the auditorium.

Built in 1871 with additions completed in 1892, Texas Hall is a four-story National Register-listed limestone masonry building that served as the first home of Trinity University, founded in Tehuacana in 1869. It will become the centerpiece of the future Preservation Texas Institute and provide ample space for offices, seminar rooms, board room, exhibition galleries, a Texana and architecture library, and a two-story auditorium for community use with reception rooms.

Pictured above: Texas Hall circa 1900, courtesy of Elizabeth Huth Coates Library Special Collections & Archives, Trinity University.

We can’t do it without you! Your support is vital to the success of this ambitious project. Visit SaveTexasHall.org today to learn more about the project and to make a tax-deductible contribution. Every dollar brings us one step closer to saving Texas Hall and bringing the historic campus back to life.