Rufus Columbus Burleson

Rufus Columbus Burleson (August 7, 1823 – May 14, 1901)^[1] was the president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, from 1851 to 1861 and again from 1886 to 1897.^[2][3][4][5]

Biography

Burleson was born near

Burleson died in Waco in 1901.[2] He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Waco, Texas. The suburban city of Burleson in Johnson County south of Fort Worth, Texas, is named in his honor. So was Burleson College in Greenville, Texas.

Legacy

June 7 of 1905, four years after Burleson's death, a statue in his image was unveiled. Standing about seven feet tall, the statue created by Signor Pompeo Coppini, can still be found in Burleson Quadrangle, which is also named after the past President of Baylor University. The $4000.00 statue was purchased by the Baylor Alumni Association and consists of bronze for the sculpture with a base of pink and blue granite on a concrete foundation.^[7] In 2020, Baylor founded the Commission on Historic Campus representations. The Commission's first report uncovered the prejudiced past of Rufus Burleson and included the recommendation to move his statue and rename Burleson Quadrangle to The Quadrangle. Burleson's statue was moved from its place of prominence in the summer of 2022.^[8]

Burleson was a second cousin of