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SOURCE: Kinney County 1852-1977. Published by the Members of the Kinney County Historical Commission (of 1976-1977)
There is not much available information about the colored school in
Brackettville before the organization
of the Independent District in 1907.
It is known, however, that the first
school house was the present Hill
Church just one block off the Del
Rio Highway and that is was used
for several years after 1907. Andrew
Phillips taught there during the
1907-1908 and 1908-1909 sessions.
The Maddux home and acreage on
Las Moras Slough were bought in
1919 for five hundred dollars and
two teachers were employed thereafter. This was a two story limestone
structure about twenty feet by forty
feet. The lower story was used for
class rooms. The upper story was
leased to the colored Masonic Lodge
until 1923, when it was needed for
high school classes. A windmill and
tank on the grounds supplied water.
The Maddux home had originally
been built about 1870 for a brewery
and served as such for years. The
Vincents, and more recently, the
Madduxes had owned the property
and had resided there. In August,
1930 the old Maddux Home was condemned as unfit and unsafe for
school purposes, and a three-room
frame structure was built near by.
The contractor, Joe Ford of Del Rio,
was paid $1659.00 for labor. In
1941 this building was partially destroyed by fire and the old Filippone
Store was leased for school purposes
until 1944. Also the top story of the
old Maddux home was torn down and
the lower floor was remodeled and
redecorated inside and stuccoed on
the outside. The three elementary
grades had classes in the Filippone
store and two high school teachers
taught in the remodeled home.
Today the Negroes of Brackettville
boast of a good school plant, consisting of two buildings on the old
two acre, well-shaded campus on the
Las Moras Slough. The brick building, a federal project, was completed
in April, 1944 during the time the
Second Division of the U. S. Cavalry
(Colored) was stationed at Ft. Clark.
It is modern in every way, with the
latest and best lighting, sewerage,
and seating equipment known to
school authorities, even to panic
hardware on all exits. This building
is used for high school classes and
auditorium. A separate rock building,
the remodeled lower story of the former Maddux home, provides class-
rooms for the primary and elementary grades. Like the brick building,
it has its own rest rooms and sanitary drinking fountains. Two good
basket ball courts are provided outside, with ample room left for baseball and for less strenuous games.
Sidewalks lead to the streets. Large
oak and pecan trees make the
grounds attractive, but shrubbery
should be planted next to the buildings.
The school was officially classified
as a four year high school by the
State Department of Education in
December, 1945 and is the only
school between San Antonio and El
Paso having this distinction. At the
time of its accredation it was named
George Washington Carver School.
There are still five teachers
(1946-1947). L. R. Edmerson, an
A. B. graduate of Samuel Huston
College, Austin, Texas, is principal
and teacher of Spanish and science.
Mrs. Fannie Mae Edmerson (his
wife), who is an A. B. graduate of
Samuel Huston College, Austin, Texas, and has done post-graduate work
at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, teaches mathematics
and literature in high school and art
and handicraft in all grades. Dorothy
B. Wilson has an A. B. degree from
Samuel Huston College and is doing
graduate work at Prairie View University, Prairie View, Texas. She
teaches the seventh and eighth
grades and all physical education
classes. Miss Charles E. Wilson has
a B. S. degree from Tillotson College, Austin, Texas, and has done graduate work at Prairie View. She
teaches the fourth and fifth grades
and is director of choral singing.
Mr. Willie Smith has been a special
student in music at Samuel Huston
College. He teaches grades one
through three, public school music
in all the grades, and coaches high
school basket ball.
The faculty is engaged in the
activities designed to serve the
negro youth of Brackettville in
their greatest needs and to equip
them for earning a respectable
living and for living a respectable
life, to make them useful citizens
capable of thinking and acting for
themselves.
The school acts as a community center for the students and
parents, as most of their social
and religious activities are held on
its spacious campus. The special
features of the school are (1) the
Christmas Pageant, which is presented by the Elementary department one year and the High
School the next, and (2) a May
Day Celebration in which the entire student body participates.
This is a "gala" affair, which
both local and adjoining communities anticipate with enthusiasm.
The colored population of Brackettville is indeed fortunate in having its school plant and teachers.
[BRACKETTVILLE AND FORT CLARK, TEXAS]
[NORTHERN MEXICO AND SOUTHWEST TEXAS]
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