HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Marble Falls School Building

Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Adam R. Johnson donated land at this site for construction of the present two-story granite building. Completed in 1891, it originally housed the Marble Falls Alliance University. Near Backbone Creek, east of this main building, a wooden boarding house was built for the students. The property was sold later in 1891 at a sheriff's sale, but continued to be leased for use as a tuition school. In 1908 the local voters chose to buy the structure, and it has been used for classes by the Marble Falls School District since that date.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Adam R. Johnson donated the land for this two-story granite building, completed in 1891 to house the Marble Falls Alliance University, with a wooden boarding house for students nearby along Backbone Creek. Sold at a sheriff's sale later that year, it continued as a tuition school until local voters bought it in 1908. It has served the Marble Falls School District ever since.

Why it matters

The sturdy granite schoolhouse traces the passage from private academies to public education that played out in countless American towns around the turn of the century.

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Related people

  • ยท Adam R. Johnson

Themes & tags

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