Little Schools on the Prairie
Education has always been an important part of Texas’ history with the need for it being stated in the original letter of grievance to Mexico long before it joined the union. But while the need for it had been recognized, the practical application of providing schools for young Texans has often been challenging, particularly in the smaller, less urbanized areas of the state. The changing social and political landscape and the state’s many shifting reforms in education contributed to a radical and inconsistent application in rural towns in Texas during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Brookhaven was one such town.
The story of Brookhaven’s school district is a strange one with many twisting loops and turns. The town’s first school, a one-story, one-room building had no more than 133 students before burning down in 1920 and being rebuilt some twenty miles west of the first site in 1923 [1] The school house seemed to experience a certain degree of bad luck because it burned down again in 1932 and was moved once more before disappearing altogether for a while when the district consolidated with nearby Sugar Loaf in 1934.
This hopscotch, rambling history of Brookhaven's only school building is a fairly common one during the nineteenth century. Districts were redesigned constantly by Texas legislatures and the school zones fluctuated and changed to meet the demands and needs of the larger districts nearby. Most rural schools and their students were “shifted about like so many kings on a chessboard” in an effort to gain access to the funds promised by the government to maintain their upkeep.[2] The rapid ebb and flow of these schools could almost be a metaphor for the changes overtaking Texas at the start of the century.
Texas, like so much of the United States during that time, was changing. It was a brave new world, and people were rapidly born to fill it. The population of Texas grew quickly from 1,591,749 in 1880 to 2,235,527 by 1890 and reached 3,048,710 in 1900[3]. In addition to the natural growth of the people who already lived in the area, a steady influx of people came in from other states, mostly in the South. Immigration from Mexico and Germany, contributed 179,357 foreign born to the population by the turn of the century[4]. At this time most Texans lived and labored in rural areas—90.8 percent in 1880, and still 82.9 percent in 1900.[5] By 1930 Bell County had an ethnically mixed population of 50,030. The county economy was still overwhelmingly agricultural, with only 41 manufacturing establishments employing some 565 workers in operation that year.[6]
The Texas economy of the late time grew at an almost astronomical level, but with that sort of boom came serious problems and a growing need for major changes. Agriculture still led the way when it came to the state’s economy, with a majority of people being in farming or ranching. The twentieth century saw the number of farms and ranches grow from 174,184 with 12,650,314 improved acres and $256,084,364 in equipment and animals in 1880 to 352,190 farms and ranches with 19,576,076 improved acres and $962,476,273 in equipment and animals in 1900[7]. As in most places cotton was king, it was the main crop grown for profit, and jumped up from 805,284 bales in 1880 to 2,506,212 in 1900 and corn, the most significant food crop, increased from 29,065,172 bushels in 1880 to 109,970,350 in 1900[8]. Cotton was the second major industry in Bell County after wool and mohair ranching[9]. The cotton industry of the county, which had been relatively insignificant before the Civil War, rose to from 9,217 bales in 1880, 37,473 bales in 1890 and hit a peak of 58,050 bales in 1910. The number of farmed acres grew more than sevenfold between 1870 and 1880, and nearly doubled again to some 378,355 acres by 1890[10]. While much of the land grew wheat, corn, oats, and other food crops in 1880. Cotton was grown on 26 percent of the cropland in 1890, 45 percent in 1900, 55 percent in 1910, and 61 percent as late as 1930.[11]
In the midst of this kind of extreme growth, national depressions struck in the 1870s and in the 1890s which devastated the economy and put the farmers' lives in peril. Farm prices varied through the period but slumped overall. The value of Texas farms increased because they grew in size, but the value of land per acre fell in the 1890s[12]. These events created problems like greater debts, more mortgaged farms, and a rise in the percentage of tenants from 37.6 to 49.7 percent of all farmers during the last two decades of the nineteenth century[13] By 1930 the cotton industry experienced a rapid transformation. The combined effects of soil depletion, overproduction, and the boll weevil had already ruined the industry by the mid-1920s, and the situation of farmers was further exacerbated by the depression. The county population dropped to 44,863 in 1940, as many residents left to find jobs elsewhere. Among the county farmers who remained, the depression encouraged diversification and a move away from staple crops to livestock. Between 1930 and 1940 the number of acres used for cotton growing fell by more than half, and cotton production shrank from 57,574 bales to 30,435.[14]
New economic, social, and political organizations cropped up as Texas joined other Americans in looking for better solutions to their rising concerns, but even as the problems increased, populations, economic production, and cities expanded, and society and culture began to develop into the more modern constructs that are seen today.
A series of additional laws slowly granted cities and towns more freedom in the expansion and administration of their schools, which resulted in the creation of independent school districts. By 1900 there were 526 such districts in which the high school replaced the earlier academies. Today, there are some 1,039 independent school districts in Texas.
In 1884, the school law was rewritten. The office of state superintendent was re-created after it had been disbanded, the state ad valorem tax was affirmed, and the Permanent School Fund was to be invested in county and other bonds to increase income[15]. Even today, income from the Permanent School Fund brings in approximately $765 million a year to local school districts. In 1911, a rural high school law was passed which created county boards of education and allowed for the creation of rural high schools and the consolidation of common school districts. This was an effort to make common or rural schools equal with those in the independent or urban districts. Expansion of rural aid to schools, including state support for teacher salaries, gradually helped improve the education provided to children on the state's farms and ranches.
This was the world in which Brookhaven existed, but the little town's growth could not keep pace with the rapid change of the time. Its school district disappeared, consolidated into the nearby district of Sparta in 1936 where its students attended classes until the city was drowned to make way for the lake in 1954. By then the little town was already heavily in decline with a population of about 63 residents. The coming of the lake, the economic depression of the era, and the shifting trend towards urbanization had left the town with little resources and fewer residents.[16]
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[1] Special Collections
[2] Special Collections
[3] Randolph B Campbell. "Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State." The “Prosperity Decade” and the Great Depression, Edited by Randolph B Campbell, Chart. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Hereafter Gone to Texas
[4] Bell County Historical Commission (Tex.) The Story of Bell County Texas Vol1 (AustinTexas:Eakin Press,1998), 248.
[5] The Story of Bell County
[6] Seymour V. Connor and Mark Odintz, "BELL COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcb06), accessed June 27, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[7] Handbook of Texas
[8] Handbook of Texas
[9] Randolph B Campbell. "Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State." An Era of Reform, Edited by Randolph B Campbell, 326-329. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
[10] Gone to Texas
[11] Gone to Texas
[12] Billy M. Jones. The Search for Maturity: The Saga of Texas, 1875–1900 Austin: Steck-Vaughn, 1965
[13] Handbook of Texas
[14] Handbook of Texas
[15] http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/tea/historyoverview.html
[16] Story of Bell County
Bibliography
Campbell. Randolph B. "Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State." An Era of Reform,
Edited by Randolph B Campbell, 326-329. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Connor. Seymour V and Odintz Mark, "BELL COUNTY," Handbook of Texas
Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcb06), accessed June 27, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
Jones. Billy M. “The Search for Maturity: The Saga of Texas, 1875–1900” Austin: Steck-Vaughn, 1965
The story of Brookhaven’s school district is a strange one with many twisting loops and turns. The town’s first school, a one-story, one-room building had no more than 133 students before burning down in 1920 and being rebuilt some twenty miles west of the first site in 1923 [1] The school house seemed to experience a certain degree of bad luck because it burned down again in 1932 and was moved once more before disappearing altogether for a while when the district consolidated with nearby Sugar Loaf in 1934.
This hopscotch, rambling history of Brookhaven's only school building is a fairly common one during the nineteenth century. Districts were redesigned constantly by Texas legislatures and the school zones fluctuated and changed to meet the demands and needs of the larger districts nearby. Most rural schools and their students were “shifted about like so many kings on a chessboard” in an effort to gain access to the funds promised by the government to maintain their upkeep.[2] The rapid ebb and flow of these schools could almost be a metaphor for the changes overtaking Texas at the start of the century.
Texas, like so much of the United States during that time, was changing. It was a brave new world, and people were rapidly born to fill it. The population of Texas grew quickly from 1,591,749 in 1880 to 2,235,527 by 1890 and reached 3,048,710 in 1900[3]. In addition to the natural growth of the people who already lived in the area, a steady influx of people came in from other states, mostly in the South. Immigration from Mexico and Germany, contributed 179,357 foreign born to the population by the turn of the century[4]. At this time most Texans lived and labored in rural areas—90.8 percent in 1880, and still 82.9 percent in 1900.[5] By 1930 Bell County had an ethnically mixed population of 50,030. The county economy was still overwhelmingly agricultural, with only 41 manufacturing establishments employing some 565 workers in operation that year.[6]
The Texas economy of the late time grew at an almost astronomical level, but with that sort of boom came serious problems and a growing need for major changes. Agriculture still led the way when it came to the state’s economy, with a majority of people being in farming or ranching. The twentieth century saw the number of farms and ranches grow from 174,184 with 12,650,314 improved acres and $256,084,364 in equipment and animals in 1880 to 352,190 farms and ranches with 19,576,076 improved acres and $962,476,273 in equipment and animals in 1900[7]. As in most places cotton was king, it was the main crop grown for profit, and jumped up from 805,284 bales in 1880 to 2,506,212 in 1900 and corn, the most significant food crop, increased from 29,065,172 bushels in 1880 to 109,970,350 in 1900[8]. Cotton was the second major industry in Bell County after wool and mohair ranching[9]. The cotton industry of the county, which had been relatively insignificant before the Civil War, rose to from 9,217 bales in 1880, 37,473 bales in 1890 and hit a peak of 58,050 bales in 1910. The number of farmed acres grew more than sevenfold between 1870 and 1880, and nearly doubled again to some 378,355 acres by 1890[10]. While much of the land grew wheat, corn, oats, and other food crops in 1880. Cotton was grown on 26 percent of the cropland in 1890, 45 percent in 1900, 55 percent in 1910, and 61 percent as late as 1930.[11]
In the midst of this kind of extreme growth, national depressions struck in the 1870s and in the 1890s which devastated the economy and put the farmers' lives in peril. Farm prices varied through the period but slumped overall. The value of Texas farms increased because they grew in size, but the value of land per acre fell in the 1890s[12]. These events created problems like greater debts, more mortgaged farms, and a rise in the percentage of tenants from 37.6 to 49.7 percent of all farmers during the last two decades of the nineteenth century[13] By 1930 the cotton industry experienced a rapid transformation. The combined effects of soil depletion, overproduction, and the boll weevil had already ruined the industry by the mid-1920s, and the situation of farmers was further exacerbated by the depression. The county population dropped to 44,863 in 1940, as many residents left to find jobs elsewhere. Among the county farmers who remained, the depression encouraged diversification and a move away from staple crops to livestock. Between 1930 and 1940 the number of acres used for cotton growing fell by more than half, and cotton production shrank from 57,574 bales to 30,435.[14]
New economic, social, and political organizations cropped up as Texas joined other Americans in looking for better solutions to their rising concerns, but even as the problems increased, populations, economic production, and cities expanded, and society and culture began to develop into the more modern constructs that are seen today.
A series of additional laws slowly granted cities and towns more freedom in the expansion and administration of their schools, which resulted in the creation of independent school districts. By 1900 there were 526 such districts in which the high school replaced the earlier academies. Today, there are some 1,039 independent school districts in Texas.
In 1884, the school law was rewritten. The office of state superintendent was re-created after it had been disbanded, the state ad valorem tax was affirmed, and the Permanent School Fund was to be invested in county and other bonds to increase income[15]. Even today, income from the Permanent School Fund brings in approximately $765 million a year to local school districts. In 1911, a rural high school law was passed which created county boards of education and allowed for the creation of rural high schools and the consolidation of common school districts. This was an effort to make common or rural schools equal with those in the independent or urban districts. Expansion of rural aid to schools, including state support for teacher salaries, gradually helped improve the education provided to children on the state's farms and ranches.
This was the world in which Brookhaven existed, but the little town's growth could not keep pace with the rapid change of the time. Its school district disappeared, consolidated into the nearby district of Sparta in 1936 where its students attended classes until the city was drowned to make way for the lake in 1954. By then the little town was already heavily in decline with a population of about 63 residents. The coming of the lake, the economic depression of the era, and the shifting trend towards urbanization had left the town with little resources and fewer residents.[16]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----
[1] Special Collections
[2] Special Collections
[3] Randolph B Campbell. "Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State." The “Prosperity Decade” and the Great Depression, Edited by Randolph B Campbell, Chart. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Hereafter Gone to Texas
[4] Bell County Historical Commission (Tex.) The Story of Bell County Texas Vol1 (AustinTexas:Eakin Press,1998), 248.
[5] The Story of Bell County
[6] Seymour V. Connor and Mark Odintz, "BELL COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcb06), accessed June 27, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[7] Handbook of Texas
[8] Handbook of Texas
[9] Randolph B Campbell. "Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State." An Era of Reform, Edited by Randolph B Campbell, 326-329. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
[10] Gone to Texas
[11] Gone to Texas
[12] Billy M. Jones. The Search for Maturity: The Saga of Texas, 1875–1900 Austin: Steck-Vaughn, 1965
[13] Handbook of Texas
[14] Handbook of Texas
[15] http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/tea/historyoverview.html
[16] Story of Bell County
Bibliography
Campbell. Randolph B. "Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State." An Era of Reform,
Edited by Randolph B Campbell, 326-329. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Connor. Seymour V and Odintz Mark, "BELL COUNTY," Handbook of Texas
Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcb06), accessed June 27, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
Jones. Billy M. “The Search for Maturity: The Saga of Texas, 1875–1900” Austin: Steck-Vaughn, 1965