<mark>MARA Holdings, Inc</mark>. v. Hood County, Texas — Entry #11

HOOD COUNTY NEWS-TABLET GRANBURY, TEXAS 176048 THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1966

This group of steers topped the market, William Anderson, second from right, is a resident of |

Granbury now, living at 707 W. Bridge, On the right is Edgar Young, now deceased, who also

u ved in Cresson.

County Schools Had
Humble Beginning

For a county of only 426
Square miles, Hood had a great
number of schools at one time,
Since four schools now serve
the county, Lipan, Tolar, Cres-
son, and Granbury, a number
as large as 38 different schools
seems almost unbelievable.

Fireplace, Dirt Floor

The situation of the early
schools is perhaps best describ-
ed by W. H. Barker in a writ-
ten recollection of the early
days of the county.

Mr. Barker was the father of

Mrs, Oran Baker, He settled in
this area in the 1800's and dic-
tated these remembrances in
1901 of life and growth during
the early days of Hood and
Somervell County.
“Of course, the first settlers
had no schools until there was
enough in a neighborhood to
justify them to employing a
teacher, But as soon as a neigh-
borhood was strong enough by
sending three or four miles, a
house, or rather, a log cabin
was built about the center of
the neighborhood and @ teacher
employed at the rate of one
dollar a scholar per month, or
One dollar and a half. Hence,
some were without a school
two or three years and when
we did get a school we had to
take very common teachers be-
cause the school was small.”

Mr. Barker’s recollection fur-
ther describes the school build-
ings of the day.

“Our school houses were built
of small logs, fourteen or six-
teen feet long, coveréd with
three foot boards and dirt floor,
The fire place consisted of one
whole end of the house, being
built up with the house to the
and clay, For a window, a log
end clay. Wor a window, a log
the whole length of the house
was cut out, opposite the chim-
ney. A writing desk was placed
under the window. The writing
desk was a slab of hued out
about six inches thick, twelve
or fifteen inches wide, and four-
teen feet long and resting on a
pen drove in the wall at each
end. The benches were made of
a tree or log ten or twelve feet
long, split open, the split side
hued to a fine face, holes bored
in each end with an inch and
a half or two inch auger and
small poles the proper length
for legs. The door shutter was
made by nailing boards or a#
rawhide to a frame made the
proper size and hung on raw-
hide hinges. Some houses had
puncheon floors and different
shaped chimneys. The fireplaces
were made with rock, cracks
stopped with rocks and mud.”

Records were scarce on the
details of early schools and the
actual beginnings are difficult,
if not 1 thie 40 establish
One old record book of 1876
lists school boards for various
schools, but gives no details a-
bout establishment.

“Overs” and “Unders”

An appropriation was made
by the state for children be-
tween the ages of 8 and 14 for
their schooling. At later times,
the age limit was raised. There
were “overs” and “unders” in
age who psid tuition to attend
school,

A record book of 1883 includ-
es petitions for the organiza-
tion of school communities over
the county, Not until several
years later did the state require

tricts,

The following is an example
of these petitions:

“Be it known on this 3lst day
of July, 1883, s petition was
filed by W. A. Duke and others,
in office, praying that a school
community be organized at
Granbury. The petition has been
examined, and it is hereby or-
dered that the signers to said
petition are constituted and re-
eognized as Granbury School
Community No, 18. It is further
ordered that the sum of $615.09
be credited on the books of the
County Treasurer, for the bene-
fit of said community, to be
applied to the maintenance of
their Public School,*”
"It is further ordered that W.
A. Duke, A. P, Gordon, and H.
E. Hanna be and are hereby
appointed Trustees for said
school community, (Signed) ‘T.
J. Duke, County Judge.”
* Note -- If the money is to
be applied in aid of building a
public school house, so state.)"
This record does not mean

+ this was the beginning for

~s schools; it was a record-
ing necessitated by some ordi-
nance, it is theorized.

Schools Listed

Besides the more well known
school communities as Gran-
bury, Temple Hall, Paluxy, Ac-
ton, Thorp Spring, Fall Creek,
and Marvin Chapel, there were
many other schools listed.

Crockery Creek was the name
of one school. The creek runs
into Kickapoo Creek near Lipan
and the school was somewhere
near,

The record lists two schools
named Allison, One was suppos-
edly near Kickapoo Creek; the
other was a community near Ft.
Spunky,

Shady Grove was east of the
Brazos River near what w
know as Acton, Caulders was a
school east of Granbury, thought
to be named for a preacher in
the vicinity,

Fosters was a school also
known by the name Martin and
later Bethel, according to sourc-
es. Post Oak Grove was south
of Tolar, near Paluxy.

Arrington, also known as
Friendship, was between Gran-
bury and Tolar. Stroud Creek
was in the area of Asbury and
Antioch near Tolar, Add Ran
School was near Thorp Spring
and, like the college, was nam-
ed for Addison and Randolph
Clark.

Rucker’s Creek School may
have been what was also called
Rocky Point. It was above New
Hope School, which was also
Incated on Rucker’s Creek.

Names Change

Pleasant View, originally Elm
Flat, is said to have been east
of what is now Mambrino, near
Well's Cemetery. Rough Creek
was later known as Brushy,
southeast of Tolar, Mt. Pleasant

was west from Brushy, on

counties to be divided into dis-!

Squaw Creek, A cemetery is
still there,

Powell’s School was in the
Tolar ares, before Tolar was
a named settlement. The Ever-
green School may have been
what we call Fairview.

Lawler Branch School was
near that stream of water
which runs into the Paluxy.

Mt, Ebo and Mt, Zion were
schools for Negro students.
Contrary Creek School was
near the Wiggins place at the
turnoff of highway 2425.

The petition record book
notes one school with no par-
ticular name. It ‘was called
merely, ‘'a school on Pearl St."
Another with an unusual no-

tation instead of a name was a
“fractional school community on
the Johnson County line.”
The Herrings School was near
the Parker County line and lat~
er became, by an act of the
legislature, a County Line In-
dependent School District call-
ed Herring Hightower. With ad-
joining territory in Parker
County,

50 Teachers Paid

The same record book noted
that during the school year of
1882-83 there were 46 male
teachers employed who were
paid a combined monthly total
of $906,898. The four female
teachers in the county received
an average monthly total of
$180.50 for their work, That
meant that an average of
$1,094.38 in teachers salaries
were paid, (Today the state re-
quires a yearly minimum or
base pay salary for each teach-
er of over $4,000.)

The salaries of these early
teachers were based not only
on their experience and the
number of pupils, but also on
the number of days in the year
that they actually taught, which
might vary from as few as
three months or less to nine
months.

Later records show that in

©! 1915, Bethel was petitioning to

build a new school house, stat-
ing a minimum of $635, not in-
cluding equipment. It was to be
a frame building, of first class
material, 24 by 36 feet and was
to have a “stove equipped with
fresh air intake and foul air
extractor; all interior wood
work shall be without such un-
necessary turnings or carvings
as to catch dust and microbes.”

Other schools appeared on the
records available by the 1920's,
Included were Stockton Bend,
Cottonwood, Hill City, Prairie
Creek, Colony, Bald Knob,
Mitchell Bend, Ellis, New Har-
mony, Cresson, Live Oak or
Waples, DeCordova or Kristen-
stad, Asbury and Antioch.

Gradually most of the schools
grew smaller and the student
bodies reduced. The advantages
of larger schools and better
transportation was realized and
utilized,

In 1956, Acton and Mambrino
were still school districts, in
addition to the larger ones in
Granbury, Lipan, Cresson and
Tolar, Acton was

=e
—

Granbury in 1960,

qtist og
| Elect

t/ the existing Texas constitution,

MMMM TT

icials

With the creation of the
county in 1866, commissioners
were appointed to see that
county officers were elected.
Chosen under the spervision of

the men were to serve four
year terms.

Those chosén, according to};
what “The History of Hood
County” calls “the most reliable
sources,” were Abe Landers,
county judge; A. J. Wright,
sheriff; Alex S. MeCamant,
clerk of the county court; Peter |3
Garland, tressurer; John Morris,
clerk of the district court; and}
Gideon Mills, tax assessor and)
collector.

Whst we now call the com-
missioners court was then term-
ed the police court and along
with the county judge, these
men were the members: C. C
Alexander, Wilson Barker, John
Meek, and Joe Robertson,

When the reconstruction gov-
ernment took over in Washing-
ton following the Civil War, a
| provision was made that all
office holders in the previously
Confederate states had to take
an oath that they had not par-
ticipated in the war.

The sheriff, A. J. Wright, had
been a captain of a company of
Missouri yolunteers in the Con-
federate Army snd was forced.
to give up his office. He was
succeeded by J .C. Hightower.
A. S. McCamant, who was the
elected county clerk was offic-
jally replaced by J. F, Nutt,
although McCamant actually
continued to perform the clerk's}
duties.

°.

Questions & Answers
QUESTION: Who was the
first County Judge in Hood

County?
ANSWER; The first County

Hood County's "

a alee soon AND BANK-LOA

SC SS En Som Ot

Judge in Hood County was Abel
Landers,

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HOOD COUNTY

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