Nellie Leo Schunior School
La Joya, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This school's roots lie in the former town of Havana (2 mi. S), where between 1890 and 1944 area children, most of whom lived on nearby ranches, attended classes in a one-room schoolhouse. Nellie Leo Schunior (1878-1920), who later became the first superintendent of Chapin (now Edinburg) schools, taught in Havana from 1913 until 1916. Several years after her death, persistent flooding of the Rio Grande caused Havana residents to relocate their town to this area. They renamed the town La Joya, and built a new school in 1926 which they named in Schunior's honor. (1992)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The school's story begins in the vanished town of Havana, where from 1890 to 1944 ranch children learned in a one-room schoolhouse. Among their teachers was Nellie Leo Schunior, who taught there from 1913 to 1916 before becoming the first superintendent of the Chapin (now Edinburg) schools. After repeated Rio Grande floods forced Havana's residents to relocate and rename their town La Joya, they built a new school in 1926 and named it in Schunior's honor.
Why it matters
The school honors an early woman educational leader on the Rio Grande border and marks how flooding literally moved a South Texas community, carrying its schoolhouse and its namesake's memory to higher ground.
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Related people
- · Nellie Leo Schunior
Themes & tags
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