Panter Branch School
Tolar, Hood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Panter Branch School (also spelled Painter Branch), Hood County School District No. 7, was in operation by 1898 on a 25-acre plot of land on Hill City Highway south of Tolar. The two-room schoolhouse had two teachers and up to 42 pupils in attendance. Husband and wife, Tony and Grace Morrison, shared teaching duties for several years, serving grades one through eight. Panter Branch and other rural schools in the area often closed their doors for two or three weeks in the fall so that students could help their families pick cotton, thrash peanuts or cut feed. The school closed in the 1940s, officially consolidating with Tolar in 1949. The schoolhouse was used as a community center for many years. (2017)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In operation by 1898, the two-room Panter Branch School served rural Hood County children with up to 42 pupils spread across the first eight grades. For several years a husband-and-wife pair, Tony and Grace Morrison, taught side by side. Like other country schools, it closed for weeks each fall so children could help pick cotton and bring in the harvest before finally consolidating with Tolar in 1949.
Why it matters
The little schoolhouse reflects the rhythms of rural American education, where the school calendar bent to the farm and one-room and two-room schools were the heart of the community.
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Related people
- · Tony Morrison
- · Grace Morrison
Themes & tags
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