Chartered in November 1849, Austin College remains the oldest institution of higher education in Texas to be operating under its original charter and name as recognized by the State Historical Survey Committee. Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated by covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church and located in Sherman, in the U.S. state of Texas, about 60 miles (about 100 km) north of Dallas. Austin College's founding president was Irish-born Presbyterian minister Samuel McKinney, who served as the school's president a second time from 1862 to 1871.