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Hawkins-Holly Lake Ranch, Texas - GAZETTE ARTICLE ONLINE

WOOD COUNTY HISTORY - AS TIME GOES BY

 

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AS TIME GOES BY

Wood County History

By LOU MALLORY — Chairperson, Wood County Historical Commission

 

A glimpse of Wood County’s earliest school


It’s not possible to state the date that the Pleasant Grove School District was organized or the opening date of the first school. It’s believed to have happened soon after the close of the Civil war.
Records indicate Henry Robinson bought 150 acres of land on August 12th, 1870 and moved with his family to that farm. Soon after the move Robinson and his wife Mary donated one and one-half acres to the community for school purposes. In 1884, he sold just over 148 acres of Land to Prof. D. Speer then bought a farm in the Coke community and moved his family to the new location.
Mrs. Cora Smart of Quitman stated that her first school was in the Pleasant Grove Community in 1873 in a one-room log house with a chimney and fireplace at one end, no glass windows and wooden shutters on the outside of the wall.
She said her first teachers were Prof. Alvis, Prof. Sublett and Miss Lizzie Morris, who later became the wife of R.N. Robertson, a long-time druggist in Winnsboro.
D.L. Stokes said that he remembered the one-room log building and his first teacher, George Wright.
Early in the summer of 1882, Prof. D. Speer contracted to teach at Pleasant Grove school and moved to the community with his family. After living there for a while, he found that the community’s name was very appropriate – that is – the people were pleasant and the school was located in a grove of beautiful oak trees.
During his first in 1882-1883, Prof. Speer made many “pep” talks. At the close of his first term, he had the majority of the patrons stirred to the point, they had a mind to work and a willingness to cooperate together with a determination to build a school house more comfortable where their children and future children would have a place where they could work and strive for a better education in more pleasant surroundings.
Many patrons took their wagon and team and went east into the deep piney woods where they found a place to buy needed materials. When all the materials were assembled, work began. By the beginning of the 1883-1884 term, a school house about 20 feet by 50 feet was finished outside and inside with smooth distressed lumber. It was painted white outside, glass windows were installed. The old smoky chimney and fireplace was replaced with a wood-burning heater. There were handmade wooden benches on each side of the room and better blackboards.
The teachers and parents were very proud of the new school house and this marked the beginning of a time when Pleasant Grove began to make progress. Many students from that time in the 1880s were still alive in 1960 in Wood County.
In the early days, the younger students used Webster’s primary spelling book, starting with the A,B,C’s, followed by one or two syllable word spelling, until students were gradually learning longer and more complicated words
As students advanced, they were encouraged to use Webster’s Dictionary. Spelling bees were held on Friday afternoons.
There were few school sports events in those days as there were no regional competitive events to be had. At the time, a game called “town ball” was played. This involved a small rubber ball and a smooth stick for a bat. There were four bases. Runners were put out by throwing a ball in front of them.
Small boys sometimes played a game called “deer and hound” in the woods. Two or three would be the deer, and others, as the hounds, would chase the deer. Boys and girls did not play together. Each had their own playground. Girls played various types of games to suit their age. Some of these were stealing sticks, marching around the levee, jumping rope and whipcracker.
Some entertainment was furnished, usually in the form of plays or exhibitions that were performed after school.
This history of the earliest school in Wood County will continue in the next edition of The Gazette.

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