“School days, school days, Good old golden rule days.

Readin’, and writin’, and ‘rithmetic, Taught to the tune of a hickory stick…….”

These nostalgic lyrics of a song written in 1909 describe the school experience of past generations of children who attended the small ”common” schools that dotted the landscape of rural Texas during the latter part of the 19th tCentury and more than half of the 20th.

These students were taught to abide by the motto “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” to master the three R’s and to have respect for the “hickory stick” or other means that helped to guide their behavior and actions.

Even though that time is many years in the past, local historians recently were able to delve into that period when they uncovered school records of the Wood County school system of long ago.  These records had been moved from the Wood County superintendent’s office to the Wood County judge’s office after the office of the superintendent was closed in 1967. They remained there for four decades until they were moved to the Wood County Historical Commission’s (WCHC) headquarters across from the courthouse. These unorganized records were stored in twelve 30-gallon plastic tubs and placed in a closet in the WCHC building at 115 Lipscomb for several more years. This information belonged to the many schools that existed in Wood County during the late 1800s through the 1960s until the common school system was abolished.

After five decades of storage the WCHC archive committee decided it was time to organize these records of parents, grandparents and other Wood County residents and to have it available for research projects. This group included Ulna McWhorter (chair), Sue Hamm, Rosa Davis, Joyce Williams, Jim Phillips, Rita O’Hara and Joshua Pogue.

“One tub at a time” was the philosophy of the group as they dug through reams of papers. One could easily become overwhelmed when facing these tubs overflowing with mountains of print.  As time progressed, discoveries would be made that would energize the group to press on. It might be finding a priceless document, such as a brittle newspaper clipping entitled “School Apportionment, Wood Co., 1913-14, and Name of Teachers” (a list that showed the amount of money that each  school received from the state) or a map showing the common school districts of 1935.

Sometimes when eyes became fatigued, a gem would appear such as a class register with the names of students who are now retired or approaching retirement. The information in these records portrayed a different lifestyle for the population of that time. Most fathers listed their occupations as farmers. Families were larger, and most people lived in rural areas. 

These schools were part of the common school movement that provided education to a vast majority of Texas children who lived during the late 1800s to the middle of the next century. This movement was the effort to fund schools in every community with the public dollar, and it is recognized as the start of systematic public schooling in Texas. It was part of a centralized system under the control and direction of an elected county school superintendent, a county school board and each school’s own locally elected trustees. (If there were no elected                                                                                     county superintendent, the county judge served in an ex-officio capacity.) This system originated from the School Law of 1884 that made it possible for parents to petition to the county commissioners or county school board for a school district to be funded by the state. 

The School Law of 1884 created a tremendous response in establishing common school districts in Texas. Even though this legislation authorized counties to form independent school districts, the number of schools indicate that the people preferred the common school system. The biennial report of the state superintendent showed that in 1909-10 there were 11,682 rural districts with only 1,001 independent districts.   

The common school was not necessarily a rural one, although most of them were in the rural areas. A town school would be classified as common if it were under the administration of the county school system. Quitman, Winnsboro, Alba and Hawkins were once common schools but eventually changed to independent status. 

After the School Law of 1884 was passed, 46 schools were established in Wood County: Alba, Cana, Cartwright, Center Point, Chaleybeate, Coldwater, Common Ridge, Concord, Cottonwood, Dyess, Fletcher, Forest Hill, Forest Home, Friendship, Hawkins, Liberty,  Lloyd, (Coke), Lone Pine, Lone Star, Macedonia, Mount Enterprise, Mount Pisgah, Myrtle Springs, New Hope,  Persimmon Grove, Pleasant Divide, Pleasant Grove, Pleasant Hill, Quitman, Rock Hill, Salem, Sand Springs, Shady Grove, Shiloh, Smyrna, Spring Hill, Webster, and Winnsboro.  Colored schools were Cedar Tree, Center, Mount Zion, Muddy Creek, Quitman, Robinson’s Chapel, Tranquil and District 48 (no name – only a geographical description). Each school was assigned a number as part of its identification.

These schools were only the beginning of the common school districts for Wood County. Many more petitions were made, and by 1913 there were 72 school districts. The number of schools was never constant. Established schools sometimes closed. Little Indiana only lasted a few years. Schools would merge, and a new name would be created. Oak Grove and Lone Star were combined with the new name of Lone Grove.  A school might change its name for various reasons. Myrtle Springs was changed to Reinhardt to honor one of its teachers – Mary   Elizabeth Reinhardt.  A school could change to independent status and then revert to common school status such as the case of Pleasant Grove. It was a common district in Wood County prior to 1911, became an independent district in 1911 and was such until 1931 when it changed back to a common district. A common school could permanently become an independent district, such as Quitman, Alba, Winnsboro and Hawkins. Common schools sometimes consolidated with independent districts.

The following list is a record of the common schools of Wood County. It includes schools that merged and consolidated with other schools.

Alba, Ayer, Bellefonte, Cana, Cana*, Cartwright, Cedar Tree*, Center Point, Center*, Chaleybeate, Clover Hill, Coldwater, Common Ridge, Concord, Concord*, Cottonwood, County Line, Crow, Crow*, Democrat, District 48*, Dyess, East Point, East Point*, Fletcher, Forest Hill, Forest Home, Fouke, Fouke*, Friendship, Gamblin, Gilbreath, Gunter, Hainesville, Hainesville*, Hawkins, Hawkins*, Honey Creek, Jones, Jones*, Lawrence, Liberty, Little Indiana, Lloyd (Coke), Lloyd (Coke)*, Lone Grove, Lone Pine, Lone Pine*, Lone Star, Lone Star*, , Macedonia, McGee, Merrimac, Midway, Mill Springs, Mount  Enterprise, Mount Enterprise*, Mount Pisgah, Mount Zion*, Muddy Creek*, Myrtle Springs, New Hope, New Hope*, Oak Grove, Oak Grove #2, Ogburn, Peach, Persimmon Grove, Pleasant Ridge, Pleasant Divide, Pleasant Grove, Pleasant Hill, Quitman, Quitman*, Reinhardt, Reinhardt #2, Reinhardt*, Robinson’s Chapel*, Rock Hill,  Rock Hill*, Rowser, Salem, Sand Springs, Sandale, Sandale*, Shady Grove, Shiloh, Smith, Smyrna, Spring Hill, Stagner, Stormville, Stout, Tranquil*, Vernon, Wayside, Webster, Webster*, Westbrook, White Oak, Winnsboro, Yantis

*African American school

When the Wood County common schools were established, the county judge first served as ex-officio superintendent. In 1905 J.U. Searcy was elected as the first superintendent. In his beginning years he traveled in a horse and buggy to fulfill his duties of supervising the schools.  He served 11 years.

The second part and conclusion of this article will address the topics of schedules, subjects, behavior, the “board” and the closing of these schools.

*Ulna McWhorter, writer of this article, lives in the Quitman area and taught in the common schools of Lone Grove and Lloyd (Coke) during the sixties. She was employed as the assistant for Mrs. Ola Hyde (the final Wood County school superintendent), during the time when the Wood County school office was in the process of being closed. She comes from a family of teachers who taught in these common schools. They are listed with their respective schools as follows: Great-grandmother Mary Elizabeth Emery Reinhardt – Myrtle Springs, Bellefonte and Reinhardt; Grandmother Susan Reinhardt Cathey – Bellefonte, Lone Star, Cana and Reinhardt; Father Horace S. Cathey – White Oak, Concord and Reinhardt;  Mother Lillian Brittain Cathey – Mount Enterprise, Bellefonte and Alba; Husband Bill McWhorter – Cartwright.

 ** The Wood County Historical Commission began the Wood County Common School Project on April 15, 2021. It includes organizing historical school records and conducting interviews of former students and teachers from these schools. Twenty-eight students and one teacher were interviewed representing 22 schools. Coordinators for these interviews were Jim Phillips, Joyce Williams, Sue Hamm and Josh Pogue. The objective of these interviews was to document and preserve the memories of the school experience of these students and teachers for county historical records. Information from these interviews has been used in this article, and videos of portions of these interviews will be shown at the Quitman Public Library on Sept. 17 when the Wood County Historical Commission will present a program about the Wood County common schools.