Post Oak School
Crockett, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A lasting reminder of the importance of educational institutions in the heart of rural East Texas, Post Oak School held its first classes in September 1892 on this site, on property then owned by Stephen Box. It served African-American students in the community and the surrounding area for more than 60 years. Built adjacent to the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, the first Post Oak school building contained the principal's office, a book room, seven classrooms and a kitchen. In 1939, a well-equipped vocational building was completed to house the homemaking and agricultural departments. Students came from as far away as eight miles to attend the ten grades of school offered here. Along with the church, Post Oak School served as a focal point for the community, providing both educational and cultural activities for its neighbors. Opportunities to participate in athletics, drama, music, dance and other social events made the school a vital part of community life. The students often won district championships in various interscholastic league competitions. After World War II, a declining population in the rural area resulted in partial consolidation of Post Oak School with neighboring schools in Lovelady and Crockett. Post Oak closed completely in 1955, but its history remains an important part of the educational record in Houston County. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Post Oak School held its first classes in September 1892 and served African American students across rural Houston County for more than 60 years. Built beside Mt. Olive Baptist Church, it grew to include seven classrooms and, by 1939, a vocational building for homemaking and agriculture, drawing students from as far as eight miles away. Alongside the church it anchored community life with athletics, drama, music, and interscholastic competitions before consolidation closed it in 1955.
Why it matters
Post Oak reflects how Black communities in the segregated South built and sustained their own schools as centers of learning and culture.
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Related people
- · Stephen Box
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Givens Homesite
Houston County, TX
Solomon George Givens and his wife Lula, both born in Houston County in 1871 to formerly enslaved parents, married in Crockett in 1891 and bought 34 acres here the following year. Their farm prospered, and in 1893 they built a large eight-room house on this site. Known for their charity and their leadership in founding a local school and Baptist church — with baptisms held in a tank on their land — the Givenses made their home the heart of an African-American farming community remembered as "Givens Hill."
Samuel Fisher Tenney
Crockett, TX
A Georgia native and Civil War veteran, Samuel Fisher Tenney (1840-1926) graduated from the University of Georgia and a South Carolina seminary before settling in Crockett in 1870. For 54 years he served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, while also helping build educational facilities for Black residents and starting a mission in 1880 for the Alabama-Coushatta Indians in Polk County. His long ministry left a deep mark on the region.
Mary Allen Seminary
Crockett, TX
In 1886 the Presbyterian Church's Board of Missions for Freedmen chose Crockett—for its large Black population and an existing parochial school—as the home of a new school for Black girls, named for Mary Allen, wife of the effort's leader. Growing into Mary Allen College under its first Black president, Dr. Byrd R. Smith, it became a coeducational, four-year liberal arts institution before legal and financial troubles forced its closing in 1972. For generations its twelve-building campus stood as a center of quality education in East Texas.
Site of Center Grove School
Lovelady, TX
In the segregated schools of early-20th-century East Texas, Black families in Houston County built their own path to learning. Two schools for African American children, Center Hill and Smith Grove, merged in 1925 to form the Center Grove School, and a whole community took its name from the campus. By mid-century it was sending most of its graduates to college, powered by strong sports, vocational, music, and science programs, and it served the area until desegregation finally closed it in 1969.