Salem School District No. 4
Brenham, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Early schools of Salem were created through the organization of Salem Lutheran Church is 1865. Two acres of land was given to the Salem church trustees by William Bohne in 1858 for the establishment of a church and schoolhouse, and another two acres for a second church building in 1867. The old church house remained as a schoolhouse and parsonage. Writing, arithmetic, spelling, and religion were taught both in German and English at the time. School board minutes were written in German from 1896-1913, and then later in English from 1914-1960. In 1880, the Salem School was called School Community No. 33. In 1886, church members voted to open the school to the public. Known then as the Salem Community Public School, it was instructed by the church pastor, Reverend F. Jesse. A second room was added to the school by 1914 and land from the Nelson Smith League was added from William and Hannah Kemper. A 1918 survey recorded Salem as a two-room school with two teachers and seven grades. Longtime head teacher, John H. Addicks, started teaching in 1919 and was both principal and instructor for 44 years. William Wehmeyer petitioned to open Salem Community Schools No. 27 and 34 in 1889 and 1891, respectively. He then donated land from the Nelson Smith league to the school trustees in 1895. In 1909, schools were combined into districts created Salem District No. 4. Eventually the community school districts began consolidating when the Wonder Hill School was closed in 1954. Its students were then bused to Salem School for two years, at which point, Salem was consolidated with the Pleasant Hill School. Pleasant Hill School closed in 1987 and students were sent to Brenham Independent School District, reflecting the end to more than a century of education in the community. (2017)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Rooted in the founding of Salem Lutheran Church in 1865 on land given by a German settler, the Salem schools taught reading, arithmetic, and religion in both German and English, and kept their board minutes in German until 1914. Opened to the public in 1886, the school grew room by room; one head teacher served as principal and instructor for 44 years. Consolidations over the twentieth century finally folded its students into Brenham's district in 1987.
Why it matters
The story of a bilingual German-Lutheran country school captures how immigrant communities built and slowly surrendered their own institutions across a century of rural American education.
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Related people
- · John H. Addicks
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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