Baytown Mexican School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Baytown Mexican School. Now settle in, because this one starts small and grows into something worth remembering. It begins in 1923, when the Goose Creek Independent School District established the Baytown Mexican School, the very first educational facility for Mexican American children in that community.

And I do mean modest beginnings. There was no schoolhouse. No proper classroom.

School was held in the Mexican community recreation hall, a building owned by Humble Oil and Refining Company. And the teachers? Not professionals.

Female students from Robert E. Lee High School stepped in to do the work, their mission being to welcome young Spanish-speaking children and walk them, word by word, into the English language. You think about that for a moment.

Young women teaching children, in a borrowed hall, and somehow that modest beginning had, as the marker puts it, a profound effect on the city of Baytown as a whole. Now, by 1927, land was purchased for something more permanent. A senior high school building and a Mexican grade school building were planned.

And in 1928, a three-room building at 3010 Magnolia Street opened for classes. Three rooms. The first teachers to walk through those doors were Miss Jessie L.

Pumphrey, who served as principal, Miss Bertie Walker, and Miss Celeste Dashiel. Those three women set the tone. In the 1930s, the teachers developed a very short list of English words, a teaching tool born right there in those three rooms.

Then came 1937, and something unexpected. A man named Antonio Banuelos started La Tipica, an all-girls orchestra, and it became a legend in the local Hispanic culture. A school that began in a borrowed hall was now producing music that people would talk about for generations.

In 1938, the school's name was changed to de Zavala, honoring Lorenzo de Zavala, interim vice president of Texas in 1836. And that short list of English words? One of the school's teachers, Elizabeth Burrus, took it and expanded it into a four-hundred-word book.

She did it well enough that she appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1961. A list scribbled down in the 1930s, turned into a book, turned into a national story. The school closed in 1969, and from 1970 to 1972 the building found one more purpose, housing a Head Start program.

Then in 1992, a new elementary school was built at 305 Tri-City Beach Road. The original building on Magnolia Street was demolished in 1995. But the cornerstone survived.

It is now on display at the Baytown Historical Museum. Three rooms. Borrowed halls.

Borrowed teachers. A short list of words. And a cornerstone that outlasted the walls around it.

That is the Baytown Mexican School.

What the marker says

Established in 1923 by the Goose Creek Independent School District, Baytown Mexican School was the first educational facility for Mexican American children in the community. The very modest beginning of the school in 1923 had a profound effect on the city of Baytown as a whole. Students of the 1920s later confirmed that school was held in the Mexican community recreation hall owned by Humble Oil and Refining Company. Instead of having professional teachers, the school was staffed by female students from Robert E. Lee high school, and the school mission was to receive young Spanish-speaking children and transition them to English. In 1927, land was purchased for the construction of a senior high school building and Mexican grade school building. The three-room building at 3010 Magnolia Street opened for classes in 1928. The first teachers in 1928 were Miss Jessie L. Pumphrey (principal), Miss Bertie Walker and Miss Celeste Dashiel. The teachers developed a very short list of English words in the 1930s. A new elementary school was built in 1992 at 305 tri-city beach road. From 1970-1972, the Mexican school building was used as a head start program building after the school closed in 1969. The cornerstone for the Baytown Mexican School is now on display at the Baytown historical museum. The original building was demolished in 1995. In 1938, the name of the school was changed to de Zavala for Lorenzo de Zavala, interim vice president of Texas (1836). One of the school's teachers, Elizabeth Burrus, appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1961 for expanding the short list of English words into a 400-word book. In 1937, Antonio Banuelos started La Tipica all-girls orchestra, a legend in the local Hispanic culture.