Red Brick School
Burnet, Burnet County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Red Brick School was built on property bequeathed by early Burnet County pioneer Peter Kerr. Kerr migrated to what would become Burnet County in 1849. Active in the land and cattle business, he laid out the town of Hamilton, later renamed Burnet. When Kerr died in 1861, he left money to establish the Peter Kerr College in Burnet. However, two of Kerr’s nephews had the will annulled, gifting only two acres for educational use. A schoolhouse stood on the property from 1874 until 1927, when the red brick school was built in its place. The school served as a high school until 1942, when it housed grades one through eight. Today it stands as a reminder of Burnet early founders’ dedication to education.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pioneer Peter Kerr, who reached the future Burnet County in 1849 and laid out the town first called Hamilton, left money at his 1861 death to found a college in Burnet. Nephews had the will annulled, leaving only two acres for education, where a schoolhouse stood from 1874 until it was replaced in 1927 by the Red Brick School. That building served as a high school until 1942 and then housed the lower grades, standing today as a monument to the town's founders' commitment to schooling.
Why it matters
The Red Brick School embodies how frontier Texans prized education, turning even a thwarted bequest into generations of learning for a small county seat.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Peter Kerr
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Lake Victor Lodge No. 1011, A. F. & A. M.
Burnet, TX
Chartered in December 1909 and sponsored by the nearby Robert E. Lee Lodge, Lake Victor Lodge No. 1011 held its first meeting on New Year's Day 1910 in a rented building. The Masons erected their own hall on this site in 1914 and continued meeting there through the 20th century, reaching their peak membership in the mid-1950s. In keeping with Masonic custom, the lodge has long supported charitable causes.
Site of Concord School
Liberty Hill, TX
In country first settled in the 1850s, a succession of one-room schools — Clear Creek, then Concord — served the scattered families of the Bear Creek settlement. In 1896 the Elliott family donated land on the creek for a schoolhouse that grew as enrollment climbed to 133 by the 1930s. The school faded in the 1940s as young people left for the war effort.
Lampasas Colored School
Lampasas, TX
The oldest public school building in Lampasas began as a schoolhouse for African American students in 1898, replaced by this limestone building erected in 1923 during the era of segregated education. For years its pupils could study only through the tenth grade locally, traveling to larger cities to finish high school, until the school was finally allowed to teach twelve grades in 1951. It closed with integration in 1963, and citizens rescued it from demolition in 2001.
Nameless School & Cemetery
Travis County, TX
Nameless, Texas reportedly earned its wry name in the 1880s after residents grew tired of having their proposed post-office names rejected by the government. This little Hill Country farming community once supported its own school and gathering places, but like countless rural Texas settlements it faded as families drifted toward larger towns and better roads. Today a schoolhouse site and the community cemetery are just about all that remain to mark where Nameless stood.