Avenue D School
Killeen, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Constructed to replace an earlier brick schoolhouse destroyed by fire, the present Avenue D School was built in 1923. C.J. Leinbach of Dallas designed the three-story building, which features decorative stonework and separate entrances for girls and boys. Funds from the sale of advertising space on the auditorium curtains were used for interior furnishings. All grade levels were housed here until the 1940s when the Junior High School and High School were relocated. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Rising in 1923 to replace a brick schoolhouse lost to fire, the Avenue D School served the growing railroad town of Killeen. Dallas architect C.J. Leinbach gave the three-story building decorative stonework and, in the custom of the era, separate entrances for girls and boys. In a resourceful touch, the community furnished the interior with money raised by selling advertising space on the auditorium curtains.
Why it matters
It reflects how small Texas towns pooled ingenuity and civic pride to build the graded, all-ages schools that anchored early-twentieth-century public education.
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Related people
- · C.J. Leinbach
Themes & tags
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