Founded within days of Howard Payne College, Daniel Baker College was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. During a long period of financial instability, the college was partnered with the Methodist and Episcopal denominations until it was consolidated with Howard Payne College in 1953. The campus has several unusual buildings, notably the Douglas McArthur Academy of Freedom, established in 1962. The mildly Gothic Revival original classroom and administration building in rock-faced limestone has a forest of spires. A curved addition facing E. Austin Avenue by Houston architect Dill adds an incongruous note. The one-story structure has a folded-plate roof supported on rows of Y-shaped columns, with a glass curtain wall infill. In the center is a tall gabled reflective glass unit, with a twice-life-size bronze statue of General Douglas McArthur striding forward, as in the historic photo of him returning to the Philippines.
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Howard Payne University Honors Academy (Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom School, Daniel Baker College)
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