The Early Schools

A photo of the students at De Leon’s school house.  Exactly when the photograph was taken is not known but the two girls at the top of the photo by the left window are twins Maggie Nola and Minnie Ala Howard. They appear to be about 14 or 15 years old.  They were born in 1884.  Minnie married Charlie Cogburn in 1900 and Maggie married A.W. Boswell in 1901.

    The first school to be built in what is now the De Leon Independent School District was at Ebenezer in 1872 according to Eulalia Nabors Wells in her book Blazing the Way. 

    The earliest school in what is now the City of De Leon appears to have been located on the southeast corner of the Peach and Melon Festival grounds.   When the (now) First United Methodist Church was organized in 1876, the congregation met in that school building.  The building was abandoned to the railroad first for use by the civil engineer and later as a mule barn for the Texas Central.  When the rails were laid through the area in April 1881 the Methodist began meeting in a school building constructed in the new town and even built a parsonage to the south of that school.

     That new school was built by the railroad on its own land on the Austin Branch near where it crosses Labadie probably in the late summer of 1881.  John D. Ham, one of the very earliest residents and merchants of De Leon recalled that the school was about 14’ X 14’ and was constructed of logs covered by planks. 

      The teacher of the school was a Mr. Cotton and it probably operated as a private school.  According to the Comanche Chief in its April 1, 1882 issue, Cotton had about fifty pupils and its July 5, 1882 issue the Chief noted that he had taken on an assistant, Miss Dora Flemming.  The Chief also indicated that after only one year, Mr. Cotton was considering retuning to Stephenville to practice law.

      In 1883 a storm blew this school building down and the above building replaced it.  According to John D. Ham, it was constructed just across the railroad  tracks west of the present “S” curve on Bivar.

     A letter written by County Judge J.H. Brewer was published in the August 16, 1884 issue of the De Leon Examiner.  It announced the judge’s intention to appoint Dr. R.D. Redden, J.W. Sanders, and Robert Holland to the Board of Trustees with Joseph Broughton to be appointed if any of the others could not serve.  It is probable that De Leon joined the county school system at this time.

     In 1893 De Leon became the second independent school district in Comanche County, the city (see incorporation of the city) financed and ran the school rather than the county.   That year a catalogue was published describing the school’s curriculum for the 150 students.  The courses offered included reading, singing, geography, spelling and Spencerian handwriting in the primary grades.  The grammar grades added Latin, Texas history, physiology and American history.  The high school grades included an intensified course in Latin, trigonometry, botany and astronomy in addition to the higher aspects of the courses offered to the lower grades.

     P.A. Gates was the principal with T. L. Gates, Ella Allen and Mildred Yarbo as assistants.  J.W. Groves was president of the Board with H. Taylor serving as secretary, and J.M. Broughton, S.J. Black and J. Doss Miller rounding out the school board.

     In 1894 enrollment had increased to 192 with 30 in the high school grades.  Students living outside the corporate town limits had to pay a tuition to attend classes.  The tuition varied depending on the level of study or the particular course.  At the primary level the fee was $1.50.  At the grammar level it rose to $2.00 and at the high school level $3.00.  An additional $4.00 fee was charged for a piano and $2.50 for bookkeeping.  The school term was 100 days. 

     In the fall of 1899, James Daniel Easley was hired as an assistant teacher.  He had taught in the country schools and wanted to give a city school a try.   De Leon provided that trial for of all the schools in the area, De Leon’s were probably the poorest.

     The superintendent or head teacher was a Mr. Lane, a graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown and a native of San Antonio.  He taught the high school.  Alf E. Hampton taught the 6th and 7th grades and Mr. Easley handled the 4th and 5th.  Fannie Franklin a Comanche native taught the 2nd and 3rd grades.  The first grade classes were held in the Masonic Lodge located on East Reynosa but the teacher was not listed.

      Mr. Easley described De Leon’s school building as an “old ramshackled wooden building with a very large room cut into three by a partition across the front and a partition down the middle of the larger room made by the first partition.  This second partition reached about halfway to the ceiling, just high enough to keep those in one room from seeing the others.”  Easley occupied one of these “fenced off” rooms and Miss Franklin occupied the other.  Mr Lane and the High School occupied the front room.  “There was a large room built off to one side forming a T.  This was occupied by the young lawyer, Alf Hampton.  He had the sixth and seventh grades and one or two high school subjects.  Hampton was a good teacher....”   

       Contrary to information in De Leon’s Centennial book page 88, the school was not located at the site of the present high school, instead it was located northwest of the present depot probably just west of the intersection of Bivar and Fannin or a little further west in that same block.

       In 1900 Lane left De Leon and J.H. Wharton replaced him as Superintendent.  Alf Hampton returned to the practice of law but Easley stayed on through 1901 at a salary of $40 per month. 

       On Sunday September 9, 1900, probably the day before school was to start, the remnants of the eye of the Galveston Hurricane passed about seventy miles to the east of De Leon, destroying buildings and property all along its path.   The school building was extensively damaged by the winds from the backside of the storm and the cotton crop was completely destroyed.  Luckily, the city had voted only two months earlier to construct a new school building.

       But one more year was spent in the building and although the school had 182 students, none were enrolled in the high school grades.  None of the five teachers held more than a first year teaching certificate but for the first time in 1901, the Summer Normal, a teacher training college was moved from Comanche to De Leon. 

   This card rewarded Frank Carter Sr. for his good work in De Leon’s school in 1888.  He was born in 1878 so he was probably in the fourth or fifth grade when he received this card.  It is signed by his teachers D.A. and Lola Martin.

    Frank was the first printer’s devil at the De Leon Free Press and worked for the telephone company for many years.

   Eight year old  second grader Richard “Dick” Carter, the younger brother of Frank, does not appear to be at the head of his class during the 1891-1892 school year.

     Notice that there were 27 in his grade.

   Dick became a long time merchant in De Leon before moving to Breckenridge where he worked for two other De Leon boys who owned the Chevrolet dealership. 

A.E. Hampton with his De Leon school students in the late 1890s.  The building does not appear to be the four room school.  Classes may have been held at a church.

The building in the rear was at least the third school within what is now De Leon. It was constructed in 1883. The community passed bonds for its replacement only two months before the remnants of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 tore through the area causing serious damage to the school.  This picture is extracted from a photo of main street believed to have been taken about 1898.