Lovejoy School
Allen, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Lovejoy School was created in 1917 by the consolidation of Forest Grove and Lick Springs schools. It was named for Mrs. J.L. Lovejoy (d. 1939), a local clubwoman who promoted many educational causes for the area. Grades 1 through 9 were taught here in the "Little Red Schoolhouse," which was built in 1917 and contained 4 classrooms. Lovejoy School experienced an influx of new students into its rural district in the 1960s, and later expanded its facilities to accommodate the increased enrollment. (1983)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Lovejoy School was born in 1917 when the Forest Grove and Lick Springs districts merged, taking their name from Mrs. J.L. Lovejoy, a local clubwoman who championed education across the area. Grades one through nine met in a four-room "Little Red Schoolhouse" for decades. When new families poured into the rural district in the 1960s, the school expanded to keep pace with its swelling enrollment.
Why it matters
The school traces the arc of rural American education from a one-building consolidated schoolhouse to the growth pressures of postwar suburban expansion.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Mrs. J.L. Lovejoy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fanny Finch Elementary School
McKinney, TX
Laura Frances "Fanny" Finch taught at McKinney's Collegiate Institute before marrying Henry Finch, a future legislator and mayor, in 1890. In 1917 she became one of the first women in Texas to serve on a school board, and she helped found the city's early literary and garden clubs. A recognized community leader, she was honored when this school was named for her in 1924.
The Birthplace of Rebekah Baines Johnson
McKinney, TX
This McKinney site was home to Joseph Wilson Baines, a teacher, lawyer, newspaper editor, and Texas Secretary of State, when his daughter Rebekah was born in 1881. Rebekah studied at Baylor, became a teacher and journalist, and in 1907 married rancher and legislator Sam Early Johnson, Jr. Their eldest child, Lyndon Baines Johnson, rose through Congress to become the 36th president of the United States.
Saint Mark Baptist Church
McKinney, TX
The congregation began in 1879 with prayer meetings in area homes led by two preachers, the Rev. Dick White and a Rev. Jones, with its first services held on Isaac Graves's farm outside McKinney. First known as the Free Missionary Baptist Church, it took the name Saint Mark in 1886, bought this property, and worshipped under a brush arbor before raising a one-room frame sanctuary. The present brick church went up in 1960 during a long pastorate, the culmination of eighty years of congregational life.
Beverly-Harris House
McKinney, TX
Warren Tully Beverly, a Collin County native educated at Spring Creek School and the Plano Institute, read law in the office of Joseph W. Baines — grandfather of the future president Lyndon B. Johnson. He rose to county attorney and district judge, and in 1886 built this Victorian house for his family. After his death it passed to the Harris family, who kept it until 1960.