Historic Schools Harken to the Past on County Rural Roads

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, students learned the three R’s: reading, writing and arithmetic in the comfort of a one-room school house, many of which were located out in the country.

10/11/2023 10:15 AM (update 10/12/2023 10:19 AM)

Historic Schools Harken to the Past on County Rural Roads

Later came schools like Fredericksburg Independent School District, Harper ISD and Doss Common Consolidated School District, and the rural schools took their place in history.

Those schools are now things of the past, but the sites and even memories can still be revisited, courtesy of a visit on the Gillespie County Country Schools Trail.

‘Schools Trail’

The “schools trail” gives visitors and residents alike a chance to venture into the earlier days of Texas, when German settlers came to the Texas Hill Country and established country schools to educate their children.

Among the old school houses on the driving trail are Cave Creek, Cherry Mountain, Cherry Spring, Crabapple, Grapetown, Junction, Lower South Grape Creek, Luckenbach, Meusebach Creek, Nebgen, Pecan Creek, Rheingold, Williams Creek (Albert), White Oak, Willow City and Wrede.

Due to the Gilmer-Aiken Laws, in the 1950s and 1960s, the schools were consolidated into the Fredericksburg Independent School District.

On Jan. 23, 2006, the Gillespie County Commissioners Court established the Gillespie County Country Schools Trail. This trail linked the 16 historic former rural schools with the Vereins Kirche, which is a replica of the first school in the county.

‘Friends’

The Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools, in conjunction with several organizations, sponsors the trail and various activities throughout the year so that people can learn more about the county’s educational history.

The Friends consists of former students of the closed schools and area community residents.

Their mission statement is to preserve the past to enrich the future: to further the preservation and maintenance of historic community school buildings and improvements in Gillespie County; to support the activities of Gillespie County with respect to the preservation and maintenance of historic community school buildings and improvements in the County through assistance with fundraising and other means; to use and allow others to use such buildings and improvements for public purposes, by making such buildings and improvements available as community centers for public purposes.

The properties are listed in the Register of National Historic Places and are on the Country School Association of America National Schoolhouse Registry.

For more information, including a calendar of open house events, call the Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools at 830-685-3321, email them at [email protected] or visit them online at www.historicschools.org.