Florence School
Hurst, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1890, the forerunner of Florence School in the Tarrant County Common School District No. 34 was called "Green Glade". In 1903 Thomas Richard Sandidge, a school trustee, and his wife Nannie provided one acre at this site for school purposes. The nearby Green Glade site was sold, and the Florence Schoolhouse, a one-room frame building, was erected here among a grove of post oak trees. The new institution provided grades one through eight and had an average enrollment of 30. The term ran from October, after cotton harvest, to May, the beginning of cotton chopping time. The building served as a community center where singings were held. By 1914, with declining enrollment and the need for high school curriculum, the district was abolished and Florence School students attended Bedford, Pleasant Run, and Smithfield Schools. Sandidge reclaimed the land which had been set aside for school purposes, and the property was sold several times through the years. In 1966 the Tarrant County Junior College District bought the land as part of its Northeast Campus which opened in September 1968. Among the enrollment were descendants of students who attended the old Florence School. (1979)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This one-room schoolhouse rose in 1903 among a grove of post oaks on land a local family donated for the purpose. Its school year bent around the cotton crop—opening after the fall harvest and closing before spring chopping—and it doubled as a community gathering place until declining enrollment closed it in 1914. Decades later the site became part of a junior college campus.
Why it matters
Rural one-room schools were the heart of farm communities, their very calendars shaped by the rhythms of the cotton economy.
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Related people
- · Thomas Richard Sandidge
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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