Upon their return from service in the Confederacy during the Civil War, brothers Addison and Randolph embarked on a mission to establish a children's preparatory school in Fort Worth.

The Clarks shared a collective vision of creating a higher education institution that would embody Christian values while maintaining a non-sectarian and intellectually open-minded spirit.

But from 1867 to 1874, the character of Fort Worth changed substantially due to the commercial influence of the Chisholm Trail, the principal route for moving Texas cattle to the Kansas rail heads.

The area around the property purchased by the Clarks for their college soon housed stretch of saloons, gambling halls, dance parlors, and brothels.

The Clarks found an alternative site for their college at Thorp Spring, a small community 40 miles (60 km) in Hood County to the southwest near the frontier of Comanche and Kiowa territory.

In 1873 the Clark brothers moved South to Thorp Spring and founded Add-Ran Male & Female College.

It was during this 15-year sojourn in Waco that TCU in 1896 entered the ranks of intercollegiate football and adopted its school colors of purple and white, as well as its distinctive Horned Frog mascot.

A notable exception to this rule is Robert Carr Chapel, which was the first building on campus to be constructed of bricks other than TCU buff.

[citation needed] Starpoint's goal is to develop advanced educational techniques for helping students with learning disabilities.

The old Student Center was demolished in 2008 and replaced with Scharbauer Hall, which opened in 2010 and houses the bulk of AddRan College's offices and classrooms.

While heightened national recognition due to TCU's victory in the 2011 Rose Bowl is one contributing factor, the university has experienced a steady growth for some time.

In 2015, TCU and the University of North Texas Health Science Center announced the creation of an MD-granting medical school jointly administered by the two institutions.

[52][53] TCU sponsors over 200 official student organizations including Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, Invisible Children and others.

Students may also compete in intramural sports including basketball and shuffleboard, or join various other sport-hobby groups, such as the TCU Quidditch League.

At the beginning of each fall semester, TCU's student government holds a large concert on the Campus Commons.

Scharbauer Hall, which opened for classes in 2010, is a Gold US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified facility.

In 2010 TCU faculty and staff held a conference for Service-Learning for Sustainability and Social Justice with keynote speaker Robert Egger, founder of D.C. Central Kitchen.

Also, sustainability and social justice are emphasized areas in the curriculum and programs offered by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology located in Scharbauer Hall.

Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, swimming & diving, track & field, cross country, and tennis.

In recent years the university has made significant upgrades to its athletics facilities, including construction of the Abe-Martin Academic Enhancement Center, which was completed in August 2008.

[60] The Daniel-Meyer Coliseum underwent a reconstruction and was completed as Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena for the 2015–16 basketball season, with expanded seating, concessions, office and locker room space, better sight lines, and luxury fan facilities.

[63] The Horned Frogs also competed in the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship game, losing 65-7 to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Many notable football players have played for TCU, including Sammy Baugh, Davey O'Brien, Jim Swink, Bob Lilly, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Andy Dalton.

The oldest rivalry, which has become nationally famous since TCU joined the Big 12 Conference, is The Revivalry with Baylor University.

[65][66] The TCU Horned Frogs also share a historic rivalry with the Southern Methodist University Mustangs, located in Fort Worth's sister (and rival) city, Dallas.

[67] West Virginia University has become a rival largely due to the schools' cohort entry into the Big 12 Conference together in 2012, combined with a toggle of extremely close, dramatic, last-minute wins in their football match ups to date.

The rivalry with Boise State University, with which TCU competed on the national stage in the 2000s as the two most prominent "BCS Busters", and which also shared one year together as members of the Mountain West Conference, has also become a major, if periodic, rival.

In 2011, as members of the Mountain West, TCU won the only in-conference game between the two schools, winning with no time left on a missed Boise State field goal.