St. Paul School
Neylandville, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The community of Neylandville traces its history to the 1850s. James Brigham, a former slave, bought farmland in the area after purchasing his family's freedom. Following the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, other black families began to settle near Brigham's farm. The community, named Neylandville for Robert Neyland, from whom Brigham had purchased his freedom, established Baptist and Methodist Episcopal churches. A school begun at St. Paul Baptist Church evolved into the major educational center for black children living in nearby towns and settlements. The Hunt County Commissioners Court established the St. Paul Common School District by 1885. A new building was erected at this site in 1918 after the original structure burned. Additional facilities built in later years included classroom buildings, a gymnasium, and a teacherage. Bus service was initiated in 1938 to transport students from surrounding areas. St. Paul School became a part of the Commerce School District in 1965. All but one of the school buildings were sold and moved off the site. The home economics building remained as a community center until it was replaced by a new structure.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Neylandville grew from the land bought by James Brigham, a formerly enslaved man who purchased his family's freedom and then farmland here in the 1850s; after emancipation, other Black families settled around him, naming the community for Robert Neyland, from whom Brigham had bought his freedom. A school that began at St. Paul Baptist Church became the leading educational center for Black children in the surrounding area, formalized as the St. Paul Common School District by 1885. A new building rose here in 1918, and the school served until it joined the Commerce district in 1965.
Why it matters
St. Paul School tells the story of a freedom-purchased, self-built Black community in Reconstruction-era Texas that made education its cornerstone through the long decades of segregation.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Brigham
- · Robert Neyland
Related events
- · Emancipation
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Douglass School
Greenville, TX
Established in Greenville's historic East Hill Community in the early 1900s, this was one of three schools for Black children during segregation, first known as the East Colored School. It was renamed for Frederick Douglass in 1928 when a new brick building rose, and it taught grades one through eight for the African American community. In 1930 Mary J. Morris became principal here—the first African American woman to hold that role in Greenville.
Mary Jim Morris
Greenville, TX
Born in Georgia in 1876 and settled in Greenville by 1899, Mary Jim Morris earned her teaching certificate at a county institute for Black teachers just as African American children were first gaining access to schools in Hunt County. She taught for 45 years at Greenville's segregated schools, earned her college degree from Prairie View A&M in 1934, and in 1930 became principal of Fred Douglass Elementary. A devoted missionary at New Hope Baptist Church, she pushed her students to outdo every other school in Texas.
First Baptist Church
Greenville, TX
Organized in a Masonic hall in 1858 with nineteen charter members, Greenville's First Baptist Church took root just before the Civil War, during which the congregation withdrew to nearby Center Point before returning to town. Its records note that its first convert was Eliza Stevens, an enslaved woman. The church raised its first building in 1873, helped found Burleson College in 1895, and gave rise to eight other Baptist congregations over the decades.
Center Point Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Greenville, TX
Born amid the violence and upheaval of Reconstruction, Center Point Christian Church grew from the survival of formerly enslaved families who gathered in the thickets of Hunt County on land no one else wanted. Charlie Haley led early religious meetings until, in 1879, he and the ordained elder Andrew Jackson Hurdle organized a congregation in the middle of those thickets, with Hurdle as its first minister. The church became a pillar of its freedom colony — championing education, jobs, and homes, and even helping staff a Black theological and industrial college — and made a point of building its meeting houses debt-free.