Hunt Co., TX - Schools: History of Celeste Public School
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Texas Public Schools Week, March 1-5

History of Celeste Public School
    In 1887, the year that the town of Celeste came into being, a school
community was organized with an area of about seven square miles.  The school
building was located in the south part of town near where the Cooperative Gin
now stands.  The building was a two-story building with an additional room in
the attic.  School opened that fall of 1887 with three teachers.  This building
was used for about eight years.
    When it became necessary to have more room for the growing school, a brick
building was erected where the school is now located.  A tax of twenty-five
cents on the hundred dollar valuation was voted for school purposes.
    Students from smaller communities and schools around Celeste began to come
to Celeste for their last two or three grades in high school.  Shortly
thereafter, the school became Hawthorne College, and ambitiously acquired three
dormitories for boarding students and teachers.   A few years later, however,
the college suffered several hardships when one of the dormitories burned and
attendance was not sufficient to justify it being rebuilt.  The college closed,
as such, and the faculty moved to McKinney.  They took along the library and
other instructional materials with them.
    The next chapter in the school's varied history found it assuming the name
of "Elmwood Institute."  For four years, it continued under that name.  It is
reported that items of mail still come to the school addressed to Elmwood
Institute.  After these four years, Mr. J. C. Pyle and other citizens of the
town took an active interest in the school, and it became Celeste High School.
    In 1913, the old brick building burned, and the present building was
erected.  The first three-teacher school had gradually grown to its present
proportions, necessitating an additional building, the auditorium, which was
built during the summer of 1923.
    The six-classroom elementary school and gymnasium was built during the
government-sponsored WPA building program in 1938.  In 1950, a "war surplus"
building was moved to the school campus from Camp Maxey at Paris. This building
was first used for veterans' classes and for the high school agriculture
classroom and shop. When the veterans' school was discontinued here, this
building became the property of the school, and was converted this year into a
modern well-equipped lunchroom.
    The school district has grown from its original seven square miles to a
present area of thirty-five square miles.  (March 5, 1954, The Celeste Courier)
                                        ---