Soule University

Soule University

The main building of Soule University
Type	Private
Active	1856–1887
Affiliation	Methodist
Location	Chappell Hill, Texas, United States
Campus	Rural

Soule University was a private Methodist university in Chappell Hill, a rural community in Washington County, Texas, United States. Chartered in 1856, Soule replaced the male department of Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute and was intended to succeed the failed Rutersville College. Soule University was named after Bishop Joshua Soule.

The female department became an independent institution, Chappell Hill Female College, eventually outliving Soule and acquiring its campus.

Soule University began as 'Chappell Hill Institute', a private preparatory school informally established during or before 1850. The school was chartered by the Texas Legislature in 1852 as a non-denominational preparatory school under the name Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute. That same year, Philander S. Ruter, son of Methodist missionary Martin Ruter, was elected president of the school. In 1854, Chappell Hill's charter was amended to affiliate the school with the Methodist Church.

The Methodists had been seeking a replacement for the financially unstable and scandal-ridden Rutersville College and identified Chappell Hill as the site for a new institution of higher education. The Methodist Church took great pains to ensure the new school was under the authority of the Methodist Church, attributing some of Rutersville College's failures to the school's independent legal status.

In 1856, Soule University was chartered as a Methodist-affiliated university and all students in the male department of Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute were transferred into Soule's preparatory department. Classes began in September 1856 with seven academic departments. Originally located in the former buildings of Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute, the university built a new building on donated land in 1858 to separate itself from Chappell Hill Female College.