Lipscomb School
Lipscomb, Lipscomb County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Around 1886, the town of Lipscomb was established by J.H. Arthur who built a store and post office out of cottonwood logs. As more people moved to the area, the need for a school arose and, on July 16, 1887, a special meeting was called to organize a school district and build a schoolhouse in Lipscomb. The first school began in a church purchased by the Lipscomb school trustees in 1888. The building, formerly the Dunkard Church, was a small, one-room school. The school and church both utilized the building until a new two-story, four-room schoolhouse was built in 1908 to accommodate an increase in enrollment. In 1922, a fire believed to be caused from lightning destroyed the building. The school district trustees immediately began discussions about a new school. J.D. Stevens Construction Company began work on the school in 1922 and classes started in the fall of 1923. While the new brick school was being built, classes were held in the church and in two rooms of the courthouse. The new Lipscomb School included four classrooms, two bathrooms, a library, office and a large auditorium. The Lipscomb School had full enrollment with a high school and a grade school. Students participated in track, literary events, tennis, basketball and football. The last graduating class was in 1941 with six graduates. Students began to be transported by bus to nearby high schools and the Lipscomb School became a grade school. In 1975, as the population of the area declined, the school closed. The school is a testament to the value of education in this rural, farming community. (2013)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Soon after Lipscomb was founded around 1886, residents met in 1887 to organize a school district, and the first classes met in a former Dunkard Church bought by the trustees. A two-story frame schoolhouse followed in 1908, and after lightning burned it in 1922 a brick building rose in its place, complete with library, office, and auditorium. The high school graduated its last class in 1941 before consolidation and rural decline finally closed the school in 1975.
Why it matters
The school's rise and slow closing trace the life cycle of countless rural Panhandle communities, where the schoolhouse was both the heart of the town and the first thing to vanish as population ebbed.
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Related people
- · J. H. Arthur
- · J. D. Stevens
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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