First Classes of the University of Texas Law School

The University of Texas held its first classes in the Temporary Capitol at this site on Sept. 15, 1883. Fifty-two of the 218 original students were registered in the Law department. They were taught by former Governor of Texas Oran M. Roberts (1815-1898) and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Robert S. Gould (1826-1904). Many members of the University's first law class went on to have distinguished careers, including Albert Sidney Burleson, who served as U.S. Postmaster General from 1913 to 1921 and Yancy Lewis, who later returned to serve as a law school professor. (1983).