Mineola Schools
Mineola, Wood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
When the Texas & Pacific and the International & Great Northern Railroads intersected in 1873, the town of Mineola was created. Settlers quickly saw the need for educational facilities for their children. Shortly thereafter, private schools were established, one of which was taught by Miss Billie Wren from Ward-Belmont. Schools for the African American community also opened under the leadership of Robert Mason Jones. Many of the early schools were in churches with pastors as the instructors. T.L. Scruggs of the Baptist Church of Mineola opened a private school until 1882 as well as the Powell Chapel School. While many of the schools were private and received tuition from the students, in 1881 the city of Mineola began to collect a tax to help support the local schools, in addition to occasionally funding repairs and maintenance. in august 1902, a bond issue was approved to construct two new schools: one for the African American students and one for the Anglo students. C.G. Lancaster was hired to design the schools. These buildings, constructed in 1902 and 1903, were the last city-funded school buildings, as all other school facilities were constructed by trustees of the Mineola Independent School District. Funding the schools was a combined effort within the community, with the city purchasing equipment such as desks and citizens, such as Mr. Lorenza Dow Callaway, offering free housing for teachers, and generous donations from the Meredith Foundation. In 1968, the school district fully integrated and McFarland High School closed. Through vocational training, athletics, arts programs and core curriculum as well as extensive community involvement, the Mineola schools have provided an exceptional education for Mineola residents.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Mineola sprang up in 1873 where two railroads crossed, and its settlers quickly built schools — first private academies often taught by pastors in churches, with separate schools for the town's Anglo and African American children. In 1881 the city began taxing residents to support public education, and bond-funded schoolhouses rose in 1902–03. The district remained segregated until 1968, when integration closed the African American McFarland High School.
Why it matters
Mineola's schools trace the long American arc from private, church-run, racially separate education toward a tax-supported, integrated public system.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Rufus Cornelius Hickman
Mineola, TX
Rufus Cornelius Hickman was born in Mineola in 1918 and learned photography while serving as an Army photographer in the Pacific during World War II. Settling in Dallas, he spent decades documenting African American life under Jim Crow and the unfolding Civil Rights Movement — from the NAACP Youth Council's 1955 protest of the segregated State Fair to the violent 1956 resistance to desegregation in Mansfield. His images recorded both the everyday humanity and the hard struggles of Black Texans.
Robert N. Stafford
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A Georgia-born son of a Methodist minister, Robert N. Stafford settled in Mineola in 1880 and served as county attorney, district attorney, and, from 1894, a member of the Texas Senate. A steady advocate of public education, he donated two acres of land in 1902 for an African American school in Mineola. Alongside his political career he edited a newspaper, worked for the railroad, and managed the town's ice and light company.
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