Lakeview School and Community
Petersburg, Hale County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Lakeview School traces its roots to two area pioneer schools. Ivey School (approximately 5.5 mi. NE) opened in 1892. Classes were held in a three-room schoolhouse, which was later moved to a site closer to this location (about 2 miles East). Star School (approximately 2 mi. NW) opened in 1904. The Ivey and Star schoolhouses were moved onto this site in 1914 and joined to form one building. The consolidated schools were renamed Lakeview, and the first teacher was A. H. Tedford. An independent school district was formally organized in 1919, and a new brick schoolhouse was erected in the 1920s. Soon after the establishment of the Lakeview School a community began to build up in this vicinity. At its height in the 1920s and 1930s the community boasted a Methodist church, a Baptist church, a blacksmith shop, a gin, a garage, retail stores, and homes. The Lakeview School closed in 1943 and students were transferred to Abernathy and Petersburg. The only physical remnants of the settlement are the Methodist church and the foundation of the brick schoolhouse. Now a ghost town, Lakeview Community was once an important part of the education of Hale County children. (1989)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Lakeview School grew from two pioneer schoolhouses — Ivey, opened in 1892, and Star, opened in 1904 — that were physically hauled together onto this site in 1914 and joined into one building. A town soon gathered around it, boasting two churches, a gin, stores, and a garage at its 1920s–30s peak. When the school closed in 1943 the community faded, leaving only a church and a foundation on the plains.
Why it matters
It shows how the schoolhouse, not the marketplace, was often the seed and center of a High Plains farming community — and how its closing could doom the town.
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Related people
- · A. H. Tedford
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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