Godley School
Godley, Johnson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The town of Godley began in 1886, as rancher and lumber merchant B. B. Godley donated land for a townsite and right-of-way to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Predating the railroad town was the local school, as Johnson County Commissioners Court formed Godley Independent School District in July 1884. Dr. John I. Pearson was one of the earliest teachers. Godley College began in 1899 in a three-story frame building, becoming Godley High School three years later. A three-story brick building opened in time for graduation in 1916. Godley School experienced great growth in the late 1930s through rural school consolidation and federal New Deal agency aid. A 1937 gymnasium and 1939 auditorium enlarged the existing campus. The auditorium (later a library) was completed with financial and labor assistance through the National Youth Administration. A new main building, completed in 1940 with Works Progress Administration funds, joined the gymnasium and auditorium into a single building and an unusually large facility for a rural school. School buildings from Bruce, Pleasant View and Cottonwood were moved here as part of the new construction. Godley School housed all grades until 1967 when a new elementary school was built. After 1984 the school became a middle school, then an intermediate school in 2000. The Godley School consists of one-story wings connecting a two-story main building and an auditorium and gymnasium in a modified rectangular plan. The exterior is clad with native stone in a giraffe rock pattern. Dark brick is laid in a stack bond variation, with alternating runners and stretchers. Multi-pane windows and Spanish Colonial-style entries are also prominent.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Godley began in 1886 when rancher and lumber merchant B. B. Godley donated land for a townsite and a Santa Fe railroad right-of-way, though the school district predated the town by two years. Godley College opened in 1899, became a high school, and grew through rural consolidation and New Deal aid in the late 1930s. A WPA-funded main building of 1940, joined to a 1937 gymnasium and 1939 auditorium built with National Youth Administration help, created an unusually large rural campus clad in distinctive giraffe-pattern native stone.
Why it matters
Godley School shows how federal New Deal programs poured resources into rural education, leaving small Texas towns with landmark buildings far grander than they could have built alone.
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Related people
- · B. B. Godley
Related events
- · New Deal
- · Works Progress Administration
- · National Youth Administration
Themes & tags
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