Cedar Point School
Stephenville vicinity, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally known as Elm Grove School, the Cedar Point School began about 1860 in a log cabin nearly 2 miles east of this site. In 1894 J. J. Davidson donated three acres of land here to the community. The school built on this site housed one teacher and 40-50 students. The first building was destroyed by a windstorm in 1908, and the rebuilt structure was destroyed by fire in 1928. The school was a meeting place for the surrounding area, and was deeded to the community after the school closed in 1948. Cedar Point School continues to be used as a center for local events and activities. (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded about 1860 as Elm Grove School in a nearby log cabin, the Cedar Point School moved to this Erath County site after J.J. Davidson donated three acres in 1894. The one-teacher schoolhouse served 40 to 50 students and survived being wrecked by a windstorm in 1908 and burned in 1928, only to be rebuilt each time. Long a gathering place for the surrounding area, it was deeded to the community after the school closed in 1948.
Why it matters
The little school's repeated rebuildings and enduring community use tell the story of how rural one-room schools anchored the social and civic life of frontier Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. J. Davidson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Panter Branch School
Tolar, TX
In operation by 1898, the two-room Panter Branch School served rural Hood County children with up to 42 pupils spread across the first eight grades. For several years a husband-and-wife pair, Tony and Grace Morrison, taught side by side. Like other country schools, it closed for weeks each fall so children could help pick cotton and bring in the harvest before finally consolidating with Tolar in 1949.
Cornelia Graves
Stephenville, TX
Born in Dallas in 1875, Cornelia Tyler trained at Prairie View Normal School and Hearne Academy before becoming the principal and sole teacher of Stephenville's school for African American children, where she taught for nearly twenty years. She married Civil War veteran John Graves and continued teaching in Amarillo after the couple moved for his health. In 1951 a Stephenville elementary school was named Cornelia Graves in her honor.
Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge #894 A.F. & A.M.
Stephenville, TX
Fourteen charter members organized the Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge in December 1904, and by 1908 a member had built a two-story frame building whose ground floor held a grocery store and whose upper floor hosted lodge meetings—held, by tradition, on the Saturday on or after each full moon. The store closed in the 1930s, but Masons continued to meet upstairs until 1989, when the historic second story was lifted and moved a quarter-mile to a new site. The lodge still gathers there today.
Stephenville Masonic Lodge #267
Stephenville, TX
On July 23, 1860, twenty-four Masons—including Stephenville's founder John M. Stephen—assembled to organize a Masonic lodge, receiving their charter from the Grand Lodge of Texas in June 1861, on the eve of the Civil War. Members first met in a two-story log building on Belknap Street whose lower floor served as school and church. The lodge helped level the Erath County Courthouse cornerstone in 1891 and has long supported local and statewide charities.