Avenue D School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, every good building's got a story, and the Avenue D School in Bell County, it's got one worth hearing. The school you see standing today, that three-story beauty with the decorative stonework, it went up in 1923.

But here's the thing. There was a building there before it. A brick schoolhouse.

And that earlier one didn't retire gracefully. It was destroyed by fire. So when the time came to build again, they built to last.

C.J. Leinbach of Dallas designed the replacement, and he didn't hold back. Three stories tall, decorative stonework on the outside, and separate entrances for the girls and the boys.

Now, a fine building needs fine furnishings on the inside too, and that's where things get a little creative. Somebody had the idea to sell advertising space on the auditorium curtains. The curtains.

And folks bought it. The money from those curtain ads went straight into outfitting the interior. You have to appreciate that kind of ingenuity.

For a good stretch of years, every grade level in the area was housed right there under that one roof. All of them, together. That lasted until the 1940s, when the Junior High School and the High School were relocated out.

The building kept standing, kept serving. And in 1981, it was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. From the ashes of one schoolhouse to a three-story landmark paid for, in part, by curtain ads.

That's Bell County for you.

What the marker says

Constructed to replace an earlier brick schoolhouse destroyed by fire, the present Avenue D School was built in 1923. C.J. Leinbach of Dallas designed the three-story building, which features decorative stonework and separate entrances for girls and boys. Funds from the sale of advertising space on the auditorium curtains were used for interior furnishings. All grade levels were housed here until the 1940s when the Junior High School and High School were relocated. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981