Starrville Community Center
Winona, Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
STARRVILLE COMMUNITY CENTER STARRVILLE WAS ORIGINALLY PART OF THE I.W. HALL SURVEY AND, BY 1849, THE TOWN HAD BECOME A STOP ON THE DALLAS-SHREVEPORT ROAD. IN 1852, REVEREND JOSHUA STARR BOUGHT THE LAND AND BEGAN SELLING TOWN LOTS. DURING THE SUMMER OF 1862, STARRVILLE WAS THE SITE OF GEN. HENRY McCULLOCH’S C.S.A. ARMY ENCAMPMENT IN PREPARATION FOR THE MARCH TO LITTLE ROCK. DURING THE LATE 1870s, LOCAL LEADERS REFUSED TO ALLOW THE RAILROAD TO RUN A LINE THROUGH TOWN AND RESIDENTS BEGAN MOVING TO WINONA. THE POST OFFICE MOVED TO WINONA IN 1907. A NEW SCHOOL WAS BUILT IN 1927 BECAUSE BAKER SPRINGS SCHOOLS CONSOLIDATED INTO THE STARRVILLE SCHOOLS. BY 1952, THE SCHOOL WAS ABSORBED INTO THE GLADEWATER SYSTEM AND LATER WINONA SCHOOL DISTRICT. THE SCHOOL, BUILT IN 1927, IS DESIGNED IN VERNACULAR STYLE WITH DOUBLE DROPPED SIDING. THE INTERIOR WAS BUILT WITH A SLOPING FLOOR AND SLIDING WOODEN DOORS THAT SEPARATE THE AREA INTO CLASSROOMS. AN AUDITORIUM WAS ADDED IN 1930 WHERE PLAYS AND MUSICALS WERE PERFORMED. LOCAL CARPENTERS FINIS WALTERS, LANCE LOWRY AND FRANK ALBA CONSTRUCTED THE SCHOOL. THROUGH THE YEARS, THE SCHOOL HAS ALSO SERVED AS A POLLING CENTER, THE SITE OF SMITH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PROGRAMS, EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, OLD TIMERS REUNION, WEDDINGS, AND RECEPTIONS. IN THE 1940s, TWO ADDITIONAL BUILDINGS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SCHOOL WERE DONATED TO THE WATERS BLUFF AREA TO PROVIDE SCHOOLS FOR LOCAL CHILDREN. THE CENTER IS OPERATED AND MAINTAINED BY THE STARRVILLE COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE. THE COMMUNITY CENTER REMAINS A TESTAMENT TO THE PEOPLE’S COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION AND THEIR STRONG COMMUNITY SPIRIT. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2012
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Starrville grew up along the Dallas–Shreveport road, becoming a stop by 1849 and taking its name from Reverend Joshua Starr, who bought the land and sold town lots in 1852. During the summer of 1862 it served as the encampment of Confederate General Henry McCulloch's army before its march toward Little Rock. When townspeople blocked the railroad in the 1870s, the community drifted toward Winona, but its 1927 schoolhouse endured—hosting classes, plays, reunions, and elections—and survives today as a community center kept up by local volunteers.
Why it matters
The center preserves the memory of a bypassed frontier town and stands as a testament to a rural community's lasting commitment to education and shared civic life.
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Related people
- · Joshua Starr
- · Henry McCulloch
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Starrville Community
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In 1852 the Rev. Joshua Starr, a Methodist minister from Alabama, bought a square mile of land on the Dallas-Shreveport Road and laid out Starrville, selling lots with covenants forbidding gambling and liquor. It grew into one of Smith County's earliest and liveliest towns, with mills, foundries, a wagon factory, and a remarkable cluster of schools — a female high school, a Baptist female academy, and a male college — all before the Civil War. Then the Tyler Tap Railroad bypassed it in the 1870s, and the town slowly emptied as post office, lodge, and schools moved away to Winona.
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