| |
THE
TEXAS SCHOOLHOUSE (Prior to 1950) |
In this series
we showcase some of the most modest of Texas buildings. Schools had one purpose
and one purpose only. They didn't enjoy the amenities or details of hotels, public
buildings, depots or courthouses. In some cases during the winters of the 1930s
- each child came to school with a piece of firewood for the stove.
Many schools were dismantled and recycled into barns and outbuildings after the
school consolidations of the late 40s and early 50s. Only a fraction are still
standing today. Some today serve as community buildings or even residences. Others
are simply collapsing under their own weight or being swallowed by vegetation. |
Texas
School Buildings & One Room Schoolhouses |
| | “The
Most Modest of Buildings” By
Mary S. Black
Photos by Bruce F Jordan
Excerpted From "Early Texas
Schools: A Photographic History”
The
Schools We Knew by
Bob Bowman
From
the 1800s to shortly after World War II, East Texas was made up mostly of farming
communities,... almost every community had a school which acted as the glue that
held each settlement together... |
Friends
of Gillespie County Country Schools
12
Gillespie County Schools are Recognized – Not for Achievement, but SurvivalRestoring
Trinity's Old Red
- The red-brickTrinity schoolhouse, built in 1911-13TEXAS
SCHOOLHOUSES Albert
- Williams Creek SchoolAldine
Schoolhouse 7-1-10Aleman,
former school Allamoore
School Alligator
School House, TexasAlpine
High SchoolAmbrose
Old SchoolhouseAmherst
Old Schoolhouse 9-8-10Alvord
Public SchoolAndrewsAntelope
School & GymAransas
Pass old school buildingArgenta
SchoolhouseBangs
High SchoolBarstow
High stadium scoreboard Barstow
SchoolBartlett
School FeatureBaylor
University, IndependenceBayside
SchoolBeaukiss
School Feature
Ben
Ficklin School, former Tom Green County CourthouseBend
School (no photos)Benoit
old schoolhouseBerclair
SchoolBernardo
Class Photo 8-24-12Big
Spring Public SchoolBledsoe
SchoolBluffton
SchoolhouseBluntzer
SchoolBoling
High SchoolBonnie
Parker's Alma MaterBonnie
View School 4-25-10Borger
High School, circa 1930sBremond
SchoolBrenham
High SchoolBriary
Old Schoolhouse Briggs
SchoolBrock
ISDBronco
Highway School (no photo)Brookesmith
School old and new gym
Brown School (Lavaca County) 7-25-11Brownwood
- Rufus F. Hardin School Feature
Bula
Schoolhouse RuinsBulahBulcher,
former Center High School #64Bunker
Hill SchoolCaesar
High School Class of 1914 8-1-11Calf
Creek School FeatureCapitola
1917 School 7-20-10Carbon
Old Schoolhouse & former high schoolCarlton
schoolCartwright
Castell
old schoolhouse Feature
9-21-11 Catarina
School 6-21-11 Cave
Creek School Feature
5-8-11
On National Register of Historic Places
Centennial
School Feature
12-4-12Center
High School - School Days Feature
A Ghost Story by James L. Choron
Center
Point SchoolChanning
School 7-14-10Chapman
RanchChappell
Hill former school, now a museum Charlie
Cheapside
Cherry
Spring - Old Cherry Spring SchoolChico
former schoolhouse - Siddon-Barnes Log Cabin 1870s
ChoateCistern
School c. 1920Clarendon
High School 1927 - Athletes and Pep SquadClairette
SchoolhouseClarevilleClarkson
old schoolhouseClose
City School 4-5-10Coldwater
SchoolhouseCollinsville
SchoolCommerce
High School - Class Of 1922
Commerce
High School - Class of 1927Concord
School 10-31-12Concord
Rosenwald School 2-1-11Conway
SchoolCookville
Public School, early 1900sCottonwood
old schoolhouseCotulla
High School c. 1928 Courtney
School, 1913Crabapple
School c. 1878 Crane
High SchoolCranfills
Gap c. 1939 Crawford
Middle School Crews
Schoolhouse & GymCrockett
- Mary Allen CollegeDaleDayton
Old SchoolhouseDel
Rio High SchoolDenhawken
School 6-16-11 Denison
High School FeatureDenver
City Elementary (former) - Museum Today 4-28-10Dermott
Schoolhouse (In Snyder) 4-16-11Desdemona
SchoolD'Hanis
- St. Anthony's SchoolDivot
1-23-10Donna
SchoolDoole
Elementary School 5th and 6th grade class 1946 - 1947Dozier
Draw
School House Feature
(no photo)Dripping
Springs AcademyDrydenDulinDundee
SchoolDuffau
SchoolEagle
Lake High School BandEagle
Pass
Edinburg High SchoolElgin
Public School, early 1900sEliasville
De Long Ward SchoolElm
Grove School sign Enloe
High School Varsity 1938
3-11-12Eola
School FeatureEulogy
SchoolEureka
School in Spunky Flat FeatureEzzell
School Historical Marker 12-11-10Falfurrias
High School class of 1953
Fargo
- Northside ISD 5-10-10Fayetteville
School 6-1-10Flowella
4-10-11FloydFluvanna
school children 1915-17
9-19-12Fly
Gap schoolhouseFort
McKavett Schoolhouse FeatureFredericksburg's
"Vereins Kirche"Friendship
(Submerged) - SchoolGallatin
Old Schoolhouse 1916Gay
Hill one room schoolhouse Gilliland
School Ruins 1-10-10 Glen
Rose High School Tiger Stadium sign Goliad
High SchoolGollyGranger
High SchoolGrapetown
Schoolhouse Feature
Grit
Schoolhouse 7-2-11Hamby
Elementary SchoolHart
Camp 8-3-10Heard
Schoolhouse 7-1-10Helena
Schoolhouse - Former Karnes County Courthouse
Feature 6-22-12Hext
HollandHolt
School 4-7-10Houston
- Charles Elliot ElementaryHovey
Schoolhouse Feature
1-1-11Illinois
BendIndian
Creek School, Mills CountyIndian
Gap SchoolsIngleside
Schools markerIowa
Park High SchoolItaly
High SchoolJacksboro
High SchoolJacksonville
- Frederick Douglass SchoolJacksonville
Colleges
Jarrell School, 1928 and Class PhotosJarrett
SchoolhouseJeddo
old SchoolhouseJohnson
City Public SchoolJonesboro
School Juno
SchoolhouseJusticeburg
SchoolhouseKeene
School
Kendalia
School c.1930KenedyKent
School ruin
Kermit
Elementary School Kerrick
School
Feature Kimball
SchoolKingsburyKingsville
- Henrietta King High School Feature
1-15-11Kirtley
Knobbs
Springs old schoolhouseKoerthKountze
High SchoolLa
JoyaLagarto
- Former SchoolLake
View Hall County Old Schoolhouse 4-14-10LedbetterLela
6-11-10 Lelia
LakeLeming
ElementaryLesley
SchoolhouseLilac
School - Class 1901 4-23-11Lipan
High SchoolLipscomb
SchoolLolitaLone
Grove old schoolhouseLongview
- Northcutt Heights Elementary School
5-24-12LorenzoLowake
school (now community center)Lubbock
- Senior High SchoolLubbock
- Texas Tech CollegeLutieLyford
School, 1911Mackay
Class of 1927 Manda
old schoolhouse 6-1-10Marathon
Schoolhouse 6-1-10Marfa
High School Marietta
ISD 7-31-10 Marshall
High SchoolMarshall
CollegesMasterson
- Bivins SchoolMaverick
SchoolhouseMcAllen
High SchoolMcCaulley
SchoolMcFaddin
SchoolMedicine
Mound Schoolhouse ruin? 1-6-13MegargelMeritMesquite
1905 Schoolhouse Middle
Water school ruinsMidway
- Beasley School SiteMiles
High SchoolMillersview
School 1-4-11Minerva
SchoolhouseMoline
Schoolhouse 12-17-12Monaville
MoorevilleMoran
School Moravia
School Historical Marker 12-11-10 Morgan
- Union Hill SchoolMorgan
Mill High SchoolMorris
Ranch 1893 schoolhouseMosheim
Mozell
High School MoultonMount
Mitchell - Site of Valley View School Historical Marker
10-10-10 Muenster
- Sacred Heart SchoolMullin
School Mullins
Prairie 3-30-10Murphy
SchoolMykawa
SchoolMyra
SchoolMyrtle
Springs School 4-1-13Nash
Public School and MarkerNew
BadenNew
London School Explosion FeatureNew
London - West Rusk High School FeatureNew
WehdemNelsonville
3-11-10 Nixon-Smiley
High SchoolNoodle
- Cross Road School Northfield
- Closed school 2-26-10Novohrad
- Grieve School
7-27-12Nuecetown
SchoolhouseOakalla
- 1920 former schoolhouseOatmeal
- Stone schoolhouseOdell
SchoolOdemOdessa
High SchoolO'Donnell
High SchoolOklahoma
Lane SchoolhouseOld
Glory High School OlmosOmaha
- Site of Omaha School Marker 10-10-10Oso
- Pine Springs School Marker 1-19-10Overton
School Ozona
High SchoolPalestine
SchoolPandale
SchoolhousePanna
Maria - children's water fountain Parnell
School ruins 4-13-10Pawnee
- School BellPeacock
ReunionsPear
ValleyPearland
1912 High School 3-15-11
PeasterPierce
School 1-3-11PeoriaPep
7-29-10Perico
abandoned schoolPettit
High SchoolPettus
High SchoolPeyton
Colony School, 1877-1963 8-17-10Pharr
School, 1911
Pharr-San
Juan-Alamo School, 1915Pickens
old schoolPiney
- Merry-Go-Round 9-29-10 Placid
SchoolPlains
High SchoolPoesta
School 1-14-13Poolville
ElementaryPost
High School Historical marker 10-7-10Pottsville
School Power
Point School 4-5-10Prairie
School 9-12-11Prairie
Mountain SchoolPremont
High School Cheerleaders 1953Priddy
School Pringle
Elementary SchoolPurves
old school with windmill Pyote
School 2-26-11Pyron
SchoolRalls
Middle SchoolRay
Point Old SchoolhouseRed
Bluff School 1920 4-7-13Redwater
SchoolRicardo
school mascotRice
Ranch Community School Children, c1912Richardson
- Wheeler SchoolRidge
old schoolRio
Grande City School, BurnedRio
HondoRoaring
SpringsRochester
SchoolRock
Island School PicnicRock
Island Class of 1925Rocksprings
SchoolRosanky
School 4-23-10RosserRowena
SchoolsRusk
High SchoolSagerton
School 8-2-12Salado
- Amity School circa 1906San
Diego SchoolhousesSan
Jacinto SchoolSanderson
High SchoolSandiaSanta
Anna High SchoolSanto
High School, old and newSchool
Hill old schoolhouseSchroederScranton
AcademyShady
Grove SchoolSharp
School 5-14-13Shep
4-10-12 Shiloh
Schoolhouse 12-9-10Sisterdale
old stone schoolhouseSipe
Springs (Mila County) School 1914 4-2-11Sligo
Schoolhouse 4-15-13Slocum
School Smithville
School Snyder
High School, 1900sSonora
High SchoolSouthland
School Relic 6-14-10Spade
1-5-10Spanish
Fort SchoolSpeaks
former schoolhouseStamps
School 6-17-12Star
School Starr
county unidentified schoolSterling
City ISDStonewall
SchoolsStony
2-12-12Strawn
- Robinson Schoolhouse FeatureSunshine
Hill School - Burned 3-29-11Swearingen
School, 1928Sweet
Home Vocational and Agricultural School
6-15-11
On National Register
of Historic Places
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Swiss
Alp Public School SiteSylvester
SchoolTahoka
High SchoolTankersley
School ( no photo)Tarkington
Prairie 11-28-11Teague
High SchoolTehuacana
SchoolTennessee
Colony Community Center/SchoolTennyson
School 1-23-10ThaliaThornton
School architectural detailsThurman
School - Kickaboo
6-30-12Tokio
School and historicla marker
TopseyToyah
Elementary & High School, 1912Trickham
School Trinity
schoolhouse (All Things Historical)Trio
School - Haunted FeatureTruby
School Historical Marker 7-9-10 Tucker
- Green Bay High SchoolTuleta
Agriculture High School Tuleta's
burned "Grade School"Tulia
Public School, 1908Turkey
High SchoolTyler
1-1-10Union
Grove High School FeatureUvalde
High School Valera
School, closedValley
View School, closed Cottle CoValley
View Cooke CoVan
11-24-12 Van
AlstyneVattmannVega
Public SchoolVelehradVigo
Park Waneta
Schoolhouse 1-16-11Waring
School - State Historic Landmark 6-16-10 Water
Valley Watterson
School 4-26-10Wayside
SchoolWaxahachieWaxahachie
- Park Public School Weimar
Schools 4-1-10 Weldon
School Welfare
School - State Historic Landmark 6-15-10 West
SintonWesthoff
Westover
School Historical Marker 7-12-10Wharton
County school bus c.1928 White
Deer Grade School Whiteflat
School Whiteland
SchoolWhitewright
Wied
Williams
Community SchoolWillow
CityWinedale
Schoolhouse Wingate
Winnsboro
Yancey
The Zephyr Public School Building The
Zimmersheidt School - "The Last One Room Schoolhouse In Texas" Feature
Colleges and UniversitiesThorp
Springs Christian College 1914-1915 Yearbook 1-16-12
Old
photos & yearbook pages of buildings, societies, curriculum, tuition, faculty,
students...
Savoy
Male and Female College by Mike Cox 1-11-12
When
graduates of the long-extinct Savoy Male and Female College gathered for their
first reunion in 1938, several of the men did a little reminescing about the Indians
fights they had back in the day... Jarvis
Christian College by Archie P. McDonald
Obtaining
a collegiate education presented a problem for African Americans in Texas prior
to court-ordered racial integration which began in the 1950s... East
Texas Bapist University by Archie P. McDonald
East Texas Baptist
College, now University, began and remains in Marshall, Texas... Another
College Among the Pines by Archie P. McDonald
We who give "All
Hail to SFA" think of our University by one of its earlier nicknames, "The College
Among The Pines." That also described another excellent institution headquartered
in Carthage, Texas, named Panola College after its host county. Stephen
F. Austin State University by Archie P. McDonald Add-Ran
College, now TCU, Thorp Spring
Dana
X. Bible and the Twelfth Man by Archie P. McDonald
A story about
the life and contributions to Texas football by Dana Xenophon Bible Salado
College by Clay Coppedge Tehuacana
- Westminster College Texas
A & M University, a Brief HistoryLagarto
College Historical MarkerBenton
City InstituteFriona
Schools Historical Marker
Friona
has the distinction of being the first town in Texas to integrate its schools.
Education
The
Night of January 16th by Bill Cherry 1-20-12
Fifty-five
years of January 16ths have come and gone since then, but the lesson taught on
January 16, 1957 by Ball High School speech and drama teacher, Arthur Graham,
at the old Galveston County Courthouse remain intact to this day with those who
were there.A
Good Education Often Brings Remarkable Rewards
by Bill Cherry
If you were to ask educators why they picked teaching for
their lifetime contribution to the world, you would primarily get one of two answers...
Mrs.
John L. Morris (Marjorie) Institute
for the Humanities at Salado by Byron Browne
Dr. Harry WilmerFather
John Caskey - Galveston's Pied Piper by Bill Cherry
He insisted that Trinity
begin an elementary school, so in 1952 Trinity Episcopal School was born...Segregation
in Two Texas Towns by Robert G. CowserAnn
Whitney
Pioneer Schoolteacher An
Influential Visit by Robert G. Cowser
"As a junior, I found
myself on the teacher-certification track, preparing to observe classes at the
only high school in Commerce."
Rochester
Teacher by Mike Cox
School teaching has never been the best paying
avocation, but the terms of employment have definitely improved over the last
century... Kinkaid
School by Archie P. McDonald
Kinkaid School in Houston. A.M.Aikin,
Jr. by Archie P. McDonald
"Texans might want to remember
A.M. Aikin Jr., who helped drag education and Texas into modern times..."Austin
Grade School by Mike Cox
Austin had the first school in the state
built entirely with public funds.Ela
Hockaday More Than a School Omarm by Archie P. McDonald
Founder
of the Miss Hockaday School for Girls in DallasThe
Gilmer-Aikin Law by Archie P. McDonald, PhD
The landmark law passed
by the Texas legislature that brought the state's educational system at least
and at last into the twentieth century.Remembering
Integration by Bob Bowman (From "All Things Historical")
Opinion/HumorCollege
Application by Peary Perry
"My wife and I were sitting on a
swing on the upstairs porch drinking coffee as we went over what you are about
to read .... I have to tell you both of our sides hurt from laughing so hard ....
I wish I could take credit for having written this ... but, I can't...I do hope
you find this as funny as we did ..." Dumbing
Down of America by Peary Perry
"At this time we have approximately
30 million illiterate citizens in this country. This is roughly 10% of our total
population. You know a large number of them passed through our school system.
My question is, how did they graduate if they could not read or write?" Global
Decline in Math and Science by Peary Perry
Crimes
Murder
at a school by Bob Bowman
During the evening of March 12, 1926, as students
and parents watched a play at Center Point school in Trinity County...
School
DaysSlow
Times at Amarillo High by Mike Cox 1-30-13
When
the seniors who would graduate from Amarillo High School in 1942 showed up for
their first day of classes, they and all their underclassmates received an orange
student handbook. The booklet ... included some things that would seem totaly
bizarre to 12th graders today, like dating dos and don’ts...Cliff
notes on “Perils of Nyoka” by Wanda Orton 12-17-12
Hadn’t
thought of “Perils of Nyoka” in years until a friend mentioned that “Jurassic
Park 2” reminded her of the riveting serial that drew us to the picture show every
Saturday. So taken were we kids with these cliffhangers that we relived them every
school day during recess...Linda
and the Texas City Explosion by Bill Cherry
It was Wednesday morning, April
6, 1947, probably about 10. The Moon reading group was sitting in a circle at
the front of the room. Mrs. Carr was in the center. The children were taking turns
reading a story about Dick, Jane and Spot. The rest of us were supposed to be
drawing... "Memories
of School Days in Gonzales" by Tillie McGill Bright Busted
Flat in Jayton, Texas by Mary Mathias
"I will always treasure the years
I lived where we had a sand storm every Friday and where the people would get
up in the middle of the night to help people they didn’t know."Special
Delivery by Robert G. Cowser
When I began the seventh grade at Saltillo,
Paul Dodson, our teacher, told us that the State Department of Education would
present a certificate to those students who read and reported on thirty books
during the school year... Old-timers'
tales - true or not by Delbert Trew
A lady schoolteacher whose experiences
included teaching during the "dirty 30s" in a small country school told the following
tale...
Remembering
school days by Bob Bowman
Few things stir the nostalgia of our
lives as the days we spent in our schools decades ago. Competing
with Elvis in the Classroom by Robert Cowser
Elvis Presley and
a band called the Blue Notes performed on the stage of the Humble Oil Company’s
recreation building in Hawkins one evening in January, 1955...Cujo
by George Lester
I suppose there was one in every class, in every
school, everywhere in the country. A class hero. We had one in our class at Eureka
School.School
Days
J.T. Brown as told to Louise George
Class of 31 in Dumas
The
Reluctant Thespian by George Lester
"The first grade at Lorena
Grade School was putting on a play. The students had been selected to play various
nursery rhyme characters. There was “Little Bo Peep”, “Goldie Locks”, “Little
Jack Horner” and many more. ..."
On
the Way to School (Oral History) by Louise GeorgeMules
to School by George LesterThe
Smorgasbord by George Lester
A school lunch story
Forum
Talpa
ISD 3-20-13I
know of another one room Texas school house in existence. It is in Culberson county,
north of Van Horn. I know it exists, because it was my childhood school house
and my teachers have now converted it into their home. It sits at the base of
the Guadalupe Mtns. It was in use until about 1988. - Erick Nance, December
08, 2010
Texas
School Districts websites list
| "It
seemed, as I recall it, a lonely little house of scholarship, with its playground
worn so bare, that even the months of sun and idleness failed to bring forth any
grass. But that humble little school had a dignity of a fixed and far off purpose.
It was the nest of the West's greatness. It was the outpost of civilization. It
was the advance guard of the pioneer, driving the wilderness farther into the
west. It was life preparing wistfully for the future. The school was poorly equipped,
indeed, since it boasted only a few long, crude benches, with no desks but the
knees upon which to write. The teacher was afflicted with the tobacco habit, which
the ten small pupils accepted along with other disadvantages".
James
Rooney remembers the White House School in Fort Stockton as it was in 1879. From
the introduction to Journey From Ignorant Ridge, Texas Congress of Parents and
Teachers, 1976 |
| | "...
with its playground worn so bare, that even the months of sun and idleness failed
to bring forth any grass." - James Rooney
TE Photo |
US
SCHOOLHOUSES & ONE ROOM SCHOOLHOUSES | | |
