Eureka School

  The Eureka School was built in 1899 near Beattie.  An agreement between the school board and citizens was drawn up which stated, “We the undersigned do agree to construct a school building to be used weekly for a school, and on Sundays it will be used as a Baptist Church.  If, and when it ceases to be a school, the building will be sold and the money will be given to the receiving district.”  It was signed by Board Members E.W. Butler, J.A. Land, J.M. Strickland, G.W. Williams and Billy Whitney on March 20, 1899.

   Addie Welch Williams who grew up on a farm northeast of Beattie and her sister attended the one room school for three and a half years.  At the time it was taught by May Johnston of Hamilton.  Teachers subsequent to Ms Johnston included Hazel Leech, Merton L. Harris, and Nettie Smith who taught a year and a half. 

   In 1907 the building was sold to E.W. Butler and the money was provided to Beattie where a new school was constructed.  In 1908, Miss Nettie Smith who taught the upper grades at Eureka came with her pupils to the new Beattie School.

Information on Beattie and Eureka came from remembrances of Addie Welch Williams which she penned in 1988 and was published in De Leon’s Messenger, September 13, 1995.



Notes: Harris became an attorney and was a partner with A.E. Hampton in De Leon during the oil boom.  He also wrote a novel about oil entitled “The Golden Mirage”.   He later was an Assistant Attorney General of Texas and in 1932 while living in Smithville ran for the 10th Congressional District seat then held by James P. Buchanan.  He narrowly lost the election to Buchanan, a rather famous man in Texas politics.  Buchanan had been instrumental in building the dam now named for him that along with six others constructed over the years, tamed the almost annual floods of the Colorado River and formed Lake Travis above Austin.  Buchanan was also instrumental in forming the Lower Colorado River Authority (LRCA) one of the state’s most important agencies even today.  Buchanan died in February 1937 and a special election was held to replace him. Harris was expected to win the seat but he came in second by 3,200 votes to future President Lyndon Baines Johnson.