Site of Truby School
Anson, Jones County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Site of Truby School Early educational efforts in this area date to the 1870s, prior to the organization of Jones County in 1881. The rural community of Truby encompassed School District No. 14 until consolidating with Bitter Creek Schools in 1916 to become District No. 56. There were three earlier locations for Truby schools until this site was selected in 1916 and a new building was constructed. Truby School educated children through grade nine, with students traveling to Anson for high school. After World War II, as the rural population declined, Truby consolidated with Anson schools, But the schoolhouse remained in use as a community center until the close of the 20th century. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Schooling in this corner of what became Jones County reaches back to the 1870s, before the county was even organized in 1881. The rural community of Truby made up School District No. 14 until it consolidated with Bitter Creek in 1916, when a new building rose on this site. Truby School taught children through the ninth grade, sending older students to Anson for high school, before consolidating with Anson entirely after World War II; the schoolhouse then served as a community center to the century's end.
Why it matters
Truby's long arc from frontier district to consolidated remnant traces the slow depopulation of rural Texas, where the schoolhouse was often the last shared institution to fade.
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