Van School, 1929-1947
Van, Van Zandt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The discovery of the Van oil field in 1929 brought about many changes within the community, including an influx of school-aged children that required the transition from a five-room rural school to a large, ultra-modern school campus. While other Texas schools were forced to make budget cuts because of the depression and later World War II, oil revenues enabled the Van schools, led by Supt. Jesse E. Rhodes and Principal C.C. Moore, to expand rapidly. The 1929-1930 school year had begun with 90 pupils, but the start of the 1930-1931 brought 611 students. In the summer of 1930 a gymnasium was built and was originally used as a temporary high school. After the approval of a bond by local voters, construction began on new Van schools in spring 1931. By the start of the 1931-1932 school year, a brick elementary school and a brick high school were ready for use. The temporary high school was converted back to a gymnasium after the completion of the permanent high school. The Pure Oil Company allowed the school to tap into its water lines free of charge, allowed the school to heat its buildings with gas from the gasoline plant, and also donated $12,500 to the school district to help with expansion costs. A teachers’ home was constructed in 1930 and was meant to entice the best available teachers to work within the district. A transportation program began during the 1931-1932 term with the purchase of three buses. An athletic park was completed in spring 1933 and a physical education-vocational building was erected in 1937. A second major building program that continued even during World War II was completed in 1947.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The 1929 discovery of the Van oil field swelled the local school from a five-room country building into a modern campus within a few years. While Depression- and war-era districts elsewhere slashed budgets, oil revenues let Van expand rapidly—enrollment leapt from 90 students in 1929 to 611 the next year—adding brick elementary and high schools, a gymnasium, buses, an athletic park, and a teachers' home. The Pure Oil Company aided the boom with free water and gas and a cash donation, and building continued through World War II.
Why it matters
Van's oil-funded schools are a vivid example of how a single mineral discovery could rewrite a community's prospects while much of the nation struggled through the Depression.
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Related people
- · Jesse E. Rhodes
- · C. C. Moore
Related events
- · Discovery of the Van oil field
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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