After sharing the photo of James A. Baker (great grandfather of Sec/State James Baker) and the earliest AC Trustees a few days ago, Roo Shannon Harpold Hutcheson asked me if this Austin College Baker family included the James Baker famously known as “the lawyer for William Marsh Rice?” The answer is yes Shannon! But that’s just one of many Baker family ties to both Austin College & Rice University, the “Harvard of the South.”
Brothers Frederick A. Rice & William M. Rice made their 19th century fortunes in Texas land & railroads. When President Luckett proposed an AC move from Huntsville to Sherman in 1876, Trustee James A. Baker was opposed. After all, the Baker family had strong family, Presbyterian, and AC roots in Huntsville. But Baker lost that battle with Luckett in part because of Frederick A. Rice.
From “A Sesquicentennial History” by Dr. Light Cummins:
“[T]he plot of land that became the Austin College campus was donated to the school by Frederick A. Rice, an officer of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. The donation of the college campus…no doubt reflected the interests of the railroad company and its backers in establishing Austin College near its northern terminus.”
Baker’s son James A. Baker, Jr. (grandfather of Sec/State James Baker) won fame as the lawyer of William A. Rice. He successfully defended the Rice estate after William A. Rice was murdered by his valet in a failed attempt to acquire his wealth. Rice had directed that his fortune be used to fund the school which would become Rice University. Because of Baker Jr., that wish became a reality in 1912.
But between the successful Baker Jr. trial and Rice University’s dedication, the estate had money to loan. One of those Rice estate loans was made to AC at the request of Baker Jr.
From “A Sesquicentennial History” by Dr. Light Cummins:
“The construction of a major campus dormitory [Luckett Hall] became one of [AC President Thomas] Clyce’s earliest dreams for Austin College. Clyce turned to James A. Baker, Jr. of Houston, son of an early trustee and prominent Texas attorney. Although instrumental in founding Rice Institute, Baker had also been a long-time supporter of Austin College. He arranged a generous loan for Austin College from the endowment of Rice Institute. Clyce acknowledged Baker’s role in financing the new dormitory, along with several other buildings, when Austin College awarded him an honorary degree.”
James A. Baker (the great grandfather) is famous for his role in the prestigious law firm “Baker Botts.” Baker joined in 1872; his son Baker Jr. (the grandfather) joined a few years later. The firm’s success over the past 150 years is clearly due to the hiring of some outstanding AC legal minds. One of those former Baker Botts lawyers is my friend Shannon Harpold Hutcheson, who asked the Baker question which kicked off this story.
Hey Shannon, there’s always a Roo tie.
James A. Baker Jr. (the grandfather) teamed up with his son James Addison Baker (the father) in the 1920s to develop the neighborhood just north of Rice University. Known as Broad Acres, it was home to the Baker family when James Addison Baker III was born in 1930. The future U.S. Secretary of State who would later speak at AC in 1999 spent his first night as a baby at home just north of Rice University.
Why, that certainly sounds familiar to me.
My father was a Ph.D. candidate at Rice University in 1970, the year I was born. While I would later call the James A. Baker Jr.-financed Luckett Hall home for three years in Sherman, Luckett was not my first residence. That honor goes to a street just north of Rice University, where I spent my first evening as a baby at home in the shadow of the Broad Acres neighborhood created by the family of James Baker.
