Baker Ranch School
Odessa, Ector County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Since there were no public schools in rural Ector County, R.W. Smith and Teague Baker in 1906 erected an 8'x10' school building in Baker's pasture. They hired a teacher at $15 a month, plus room and board, which each furnished on alternate months. Ranch schools like this one taught not only children of ranchers, but also those of cowboys and nesters--small farmers coming west to homestead or to by land at nominal prices. Baker community later had a public school. Till the Permian Basin had good roads and buses, ranch schools served it well. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
With no public schools in rural Ector County, ranchers R.W. Smith and Teague Baker built an eight-by-ten-foot schoolhouse in Baker's pasture in 1906 and hired a teacher for $15 a month plus room and board, which they took turns providing. Such ranch schools taught not only ranchers' children but those of cowboys and 'nesters' — small farmers coming west to homestead cheap land. They served the isolated Permian Basin well until good roads and buses finally reached it.
Why it matters
The tiny pasture schoolhouse captures the ingenuity of West Texas settlers who built education from scratch on the open range, decades before infrastructure arrived.
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Related people
- · R.W. Smith
- · Teague Baker
Themes & tags
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