Site of Early Commerce Schools
Commerce, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
By 1883, the scholastic population of Commerce had outgrown the public school which opened ten years earlier. Land at this site, purchased by the Commerce Educational Assoc., was chosen for a new schoolhouse. The first building here, a two-story frame structure, became Commerce High School. Destroyed by fire in 1898, it was replaced by a larger brick building that served as Commerce High and later as Central Ward School. A third building, completed in 1937, was renamed in 1950 to honor A. L. Day, who served as superintendent of Commerce Schools, 1900-1935. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
By 1883 Commerce had outgrown the public school opened a decade earlier, so the local Educational Association bought this ground for a new two-story frame schoolhouse that became Commerce High School. Fire took that building in 1898, a brick successor followed, and a third school completed in 1937 was later renamed to honor longtime superintendent A. L. Day.
Why it matters
The succession of schoolhouses on one site charts a growing town's steady investment in public education across the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Related people
- · A. L. Day
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Baptist Church of Commerce
Commerce, TX
Begun in November 1883 with nine charter members as the Missionary Baptist Church of Commerce, this congregation first worshiped in a shared Union church building before raising its own sanctuary. As it outgrew that home, its Women's Missionary Society raised funds for a new site, completed in 1913. Renamed First Baptist in 1933, the church became a civic leader in Commerce and a longtime presence in the life of East Texas State University students.
Site of Commerce Churches
Commerce, TX
On this ground the Missionary Baptist Church built a sanctuary in 1893, beginning a long chain of congregations that passed through the property over the next seventy years. The Commerce Church of Christ acquired and enlarged the building in the early twentieth century, notable for the many East Texas State Teachers College faculty who served as its elders and preachers. Baptist and later Lutheran congregations owned the site into the 1960s.
First Presbyterian Church of Commerce
Commerce, TX
In November 1888 seventeen charter members joined the Rev. J. C. Grow to organize the First Presbyterian Church of Commerce, worshiping in the town's shared Union Church until they finished their own frame sanctuary in 1893. The Rev. Elijah B. Fincher became the first resident pastor in 1897, and a brick sanctuary rose at Monroe and Caddo streets in 1913. The congregation has been woven into the life of Commerce for more than a century.
John T. Knight
Commerce, TX
John Thomas Knight came to Commerce in 1878 and spent his long life—he lived to 98—building the town's civic and business backbone. He served decades on the school board, ran Knight Brothers Grocery, led local banks, and helped bring the college that became Texas A&M University-Commerce to town. A Mason of 62 years who also raised cattle and cotton, he and his family left a deep imprint on the community.