On February 8, 1860, Salado College was incorporated by the Texas Legislature for twenty years to grant diplomas, confer degrees and perform other corporate functions.

On July 4, 1860, area Masons laid the cornerstone for the college's permanent two-story limestone building.

The college sold many more lots as families moved to Salado to get their children a good education.

Finally, Colonel Robertson had to step in and buy the college in 1877 to keep it from being closed due to foreclosure on the property.

A new corporation formed in 1882 and purchased the land on which the college building stood from Robertson's heirs.

The college had operated for its entire existence without endowments, sustained solely by tuition.

The Salado College Board of Trustees leased the site to Dr. S. J. Jones who established a private high school.

Oral history recounts the nature of these fires as "suspicious," but the basis for the claim of arson is lost in local legend.