Brown School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Brown School out in Lavaca County. Now, some stories start with a deed and a handshake, and this one is no different. Out in the rural farming community of St.

Mary's, a man named Benedict Brown deeded land in 1894 to Lavaca County, and just like that, the foundation was laid for something that would outlast almost everything else around it. The Brown School was open for business. Well, nearly.

First somebody had to go get the lumber. The nearest mill was over in Flatonia, and that wood got hauled every mile of the way back to St. Mary's.

No elegant construction story here. Just work. The finished product was a one-room schoolhouse, and inside it, rough benches served as seats, small slates stood in for blackboards, and every single morning, water had to be carried in from a neighbor's farm.

Every. Single. Morning.

Now, by the late 1800s, Lavaca County had eighty-five schools scattered across its land, many of them small, all of them serious. Because the German and Czechoslovakian immigrants who had put down roots in that county were committed to education in a way that didn't leave much room for compromise. The school year in those early days ran only three to five months, and the curriculum covered reading, writing, and arithmetic.

First through fifth grades were in the hands of Mrs. Emma Stacey. Then came the fall of 1906, and things changed.

A new two-room schoolhouse went up, furnished with actual desks, a water well right there on site, and new academic courses added to the mix. No more hauling water from the neighbor's farm. In the 1920s, the Brown School expanded again, pushing up to eighth and ninth grades.

Sports courts, a playground, new library equipment, the place was growing into something. And it performed. In 1956 and 1957, the Brown School won the Lavaca County Rural School Fair.

Back to back. An achievement, and a testament, as the marker puts it, to the school's academics. The students who walked out of Brown School went on to become doctors, teachers, dentists, nurses, and more.

And then, in June of 1958, the school closed and consolidated with the Vysehrad school district. What Benedict Brown started with a land deed in 1894 ran its course sixty-some years later, leaving behind a community better educated, better prepared, and better connected than it found. That's not a small thing.

That's the whole point.

What the marker says

Located in the rural farming community of St. Mary's, the Brown School began when Benedict Brown deeded land in 1894 to Lavaca County for use as a public school. By the late 1800s, Lavaca County had 85 schools across the county, many small schools serving the children living nearby. Although small, these schools were very important to the German and Czechoslovakian immigrants and their commitment to education. The lumber for the one-room school was hauled from Flatonia, the nearest lumber mill. Rough benches served as seats and small slates as the students' blackboards. Water was carried in daily from a neighbor's farm. The length of the first schools were only three to five months, with curriculum covering reading, writing and arithmetic. First through fifth grades were taught by Mrs. Emma Stacey. In the fall of 1906, a new two-room school house was built and furnished with desks, a water well on site and new academic courses. In the 1920s, the Brown School expanded to eighth and ninth grades. Sports courts and a playground and new equipment in the library added to the enrichment of the students. In 1956 and 1957, the Brown School won the Lavaca County Rural School Fair, and achievement and testament to the school's academics. Students of the Brown School went on to become doctors, teachers, dentists, nurses and more. The school closed in June 1958 and consolidated with the Vysehrad school district. The Brown School and other rural schools of the late nineteenth century significantly contributed to the area's educational and cultural development. (2017)