SCHOOLS: THEY WANTED LEARNING - Coke County, TX Contributed by Jo Collier 7 September 2003 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/txfiles.htm ********************************************************************* THEY WANTED LEARNING Copied from the Observer, Robert Lee, Texas, May 7, 1964. Written by Jessie Newton Yarbrough Everything changes as time goes by. Schools are no exception, and there has been radical changes in the schools of Coke County during its 75-year history. There were at least four schools in the area that became Coke County before the county was organized. There was the Sand Springs School, which later moved about a mile and became the Hayrick school. There was a one-room school at Sanco which grew into a four-room school housed in a brick building and continued until conslidated with Robert Lee. Then there was a school known as "Oso," which in time grew into the very modern and progressive school of Bronte. Also the one-room school taught by Miss Lucy McCarthy in the old Stickney residence at Robert Lee grew and progressed through the years to become the fine school now the pride of the county seat town. Coke County had ten school districts in 1891. By 1920 there were 30 districts; then the urge to consolidate gained momentum. Today, Coke County has only three districts and only three schools - Bronte, Robert Lee, and Silver. In 1887-88, Miss Idalia Nance had only 11 or 12 pupils at Sand Springs. In 1910 Mr. Jim Tunnell enrolled 91 in his one-teacher school at Hayrick, with an average daily attendance of 72. In 1928, the enrollment by rooms in the Robert Lee School was 45, 43, 54, 47, and 49. Five of the six teachers were teaching two grades each. Yes, times have changed, and so have the schools. One of the first schools in the area that became Coke County was taught by a Mr. Hall in 1886-86 in a one-room, wooden structure on Mountain Creek one mile west of Hayrick Mountain. The school was near the spot now occupied by the H. C Alen rock ranch house. It was a four-month "Subscriiption" school. Parents paid $1.50 per month for each child. No more than ten pupils attended, so Mr. Hall received the handsome salary of $15.00 per month for his teaching. Some of the students who attended that school were Ada Sally, Alice and Howard Caraway, children of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Caraway, who settled in the area in 1883. Another pupil was Wylie Byrd, son of Uncle Jimmy Byrd, who settled at the pecan mott now known as the M. A. Cox place. The next year the school moved two miles east to be near a good spring which furnished water for the school. Also, more people were settling in that direction and the move made the school more convenient for a larger number of children. After the move, the school became known as San Springs school. The teacher in 1886-87 was Miss Idalia Nance. About eleven or twelve pupils attended, including Jack, Etta and Lydia Roe, the Dancer boys, Marvin Brooks, Henry Richards, the Caraway children, and Wylie Byrd. Miss Betty Eidson taught the Sand Springs school in 1887-88. A Mr. Carrigan was teaching the school whe Coken County was organized in 1889. After Hayrick was designated the county seat, the school was moved one mile north to Hayrick, where a two room school building was erected. The name was changed to Hayrick School. Mr. Carrigan and Miss Vida Youngblood, a student assistant, were the teachers. Mr. Carrigan and J. J. Bishop were teaching about 75 to 120 students in the Hayrick School to 1890-91, when the county seat was moved to Robert Lee. Hayrick continued to be a thriving farming community for a number of years, and the school remained. About 1909-1910 the one-teacher Hayrick school, taught by Mr. Jim Tunnell, enrolled 91 students and had an average daily attendance of 72. Finally, Hayrick changed into almost strictly ranching area, the number of families decreaased, the number of scholastics dwindled until it became difficult to maintan a school. In 1931 Hayrick was consolidated with the Bronte school system. The scholastic census continued to dwindle. Today, not even one child of public school age resides in the old Hayrick district. Permission granted by the Observer/Enterprise for Publication in the Coke County TXGenWeb Archives.