Nacogdoches University was founded under a charter granted by the Republic of Texas on February 3, 1845 in response to a petition from the citizens of Nacogdoches who held a public meeting at the courthouse for that purpose on November 1, 1844. This Old University Building is the only existing building in Texas that was built for a university established during the Republic of Texas.

The University was originally housed in the “ Red House“  which was a building downtown that was rented from Judge Bennett Blake for the first school session beginning September 1, 1845. That house has been built by Colonel Piedras, Mexican officer of the 12th Battalion to house the 320 Mexican soldiers sent to Nacogdoches in 1827 to maintain order and control the frontier. After Piedras was driven from Nacogdoches in 1832, Thomas J. Rusk later bought the house for his first Texas home. The University occupied this old adobe and frame house until 1852 when it moved across the street. In 1855 the University purchased the Temperance Hall on Hospital Street.