Terrell Elementary School
Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This location has been home to a school building for the students of the Terrell area since 1901. The site was selected to serve the children living north of the Texas and Pacific Railway tracks nearby. A two-story building named the North Primary School was completed here in September 1901 at a cost of $9,000, and contained six classrooms with facilities for 300 pupils. Over the years increased enrollment placed greater demand on the primary school and other schools. In 1931 the Terrell School Board decided to erect new school buildings with financial assistance provided by the Public Works Administration. Completed in 1936, this primary school was designed by Dallas architect Mark Lemmon, and contained 14 classrooms and an auditorium with a 12-foot stage. Still in use, this building is a fine example of Georgian revival architecture, featuring a 5-bay primary facade, rounded pedimented entry doors, round-arch windows on the auditorium, and chimney-like features at the gable ends. The school was renamed in 1979 in honor of Superintendent John E. Langwith (1889-1976) who served the Terrell School District from 1923-1959. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
A school has stood on this Terrell, Texas, site since 1901, when a two-story primary school was built to serve children living north of the Texas and Pacific Railway tracks. Rising enrollment led the school board to replace it in the 1930s, and the current Georgian Revival building — designed by noted Dallas architect Mark Lemmon with Public Works Administration funds — was completed in 1936. It was renamed in 1979 to honor longtime superintendent John E. Langwith.
Why it matters
The site shows how a community's investment in public education endured across generations, and how New Deal programs like the PWA rebuilt American schoolhouses during the Great Depression.
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Related people
- · Mark Lemmon
- · John E. Langwith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Marrs, S. M. N.
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Born in wartime Virginia in 1862, Starlin Marion Newberry Marrs began teaching at sixteen and worked coal mines to fund his own schooling before coming to Texas in 1881. Chosen as Terrell's school superintendent, he weathered a bruising local political fight and went on to statewide office, rising to State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1922. In that role he pushed compulsory attendance, stronger rural schools, and higher teaching standards, and he was later honored among the great figures of Texas education.
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