Buda School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official Buda School marker has to say, and friend, this one's got more layers than a good brisket. Now before there was a Buda school, there were schools scattered all across the Hays County countryside. Little rural outposts with names like Elm Grove, Goforth, Turnersville, Mountain City, Antioch, Science Hall, and Kellyville.

Elm Grove, you should know, was the largest school in all of Hays County back in 1876. These scattered places would eventually be pulled together into something bigger. But that consolidation was still a ways off.

The year 1881 is where our story really gets rollin. That was the year Cornelia Trimble platted the town of Buda itself. And in that same year, a woman named Mary Adams established the first school, on property east of the railroad track along Railroad Street, and she served as its teacher herself.

A town and a school, both taking their first steps in the same year. The school kept growin. In 1885, trustees erected a two-story wooden school building at what is now the current site.

That served the community until Buda's population demanded something more. So in 1908, trustees replaced it with a larger, two-story brick building. Bigger.

Sturdier. Built for a town on the rise. Then 1928 arrived, and the brick building burned.

Now here is where a lesser town might have just thrown up something quick and called it done. But Buda didn't do that. Builders completed a new schoolhouse, a mission style, one-story building designed by Austin architect Roy L.

Thomas. And here's the detail that'll stick with you: that new building incorporated the standing walls of the old burned structure. You can still see those walls today, right there in the auditorium space.

The old building, in a manner of speaking, never entirely left. That auditorium mattered to people. Parents and students gathered there for school events before it was eventually transformed into a community room.

From 1931 to 1945, a man named Bob Barton, Sr. served as school superintendent. Now that title alone sounds like a full-time job, and it was, but Barton was also pulling duty as bus driver, teacher, and coach. One man, many hats.

He and his wife Marietta didn't just run the school, they worked toward something harder. They aided in the fight for school integration. That fight began when the city's Mexican American school closed in 1948.

African American high school students were able to attend the main school in 1956. Grades one through eight were integrated by 1961. These were not simple years.

They were years that asked something of the people in them. By 1967, Buda, Kyle, and Wimberley schools joined together to form Hays Consolidated Independent School District. Wimberley has since reformed a separate district, but that consolidation marked a new chapter for the region.

Today, the building stands as Buda Elementary, still serving the community, more than a hundred years after it first opened. A school that outlasted fire. That carries the walls of its past inside its own walls.

That watched a town grow up around it, and did some growing of its own. Not bad for a place that started with one teacher on a piece of ground east of the railroad track.

What the marker says

THE BUDA SCHOOL SYSTEM ORGANIZED FROM THE CONSOLIDATION OF SEVERAL 19TH CENTURY RURAL SCHOOLS, INCLUDING ELM GROVE (LARGEST SCHOOL IN HAYS COUNTY IN 1876), GOFORTH, TURNERSVILLE, MOUNTAIN CITY, ANTIOCH, SCIENCE HALL AND KELLYVILLE. IN 1881, THE YEAR CORNELIA TRIMBLE PLATTED BUDA, MARY ADAMS ESTABLISHED THE FIRST SCHOOL ON PROPERTY EAST OF THE RAILROAD TRACK ALONG RAILROAD STREET AND SERVED AS ITS TEACHER. IN 1885, SCHOOL TRUSTEES ERECTED A TWO-STORY WOODEN SCHOOL BUILDING AT THE CURRENT SITE. IN 1908, TRUSTEES REPLACED IT WITH A LARGER, TWO-STORY BRICK BUILDING TO ACCOMMODATE BUDA'S GROWING POPULATION. WHEN THAT STRUCTURE BURNED IN 1928, BUILDERS COMPLETED THE PRESENT MISSION STYLE, ONE-STORY SCHOOLHOUSE, DESIGNED BY AUSTIN ARCHITECT ROY L. THOMAS, WHICH INCORPORATED THE STANDING WALLS OF THE PREVIOUS BUILDING, STILL VISIBLE IN THE AUDITORIUM SPACE. THE AUDITORIUM WAS SIGNIFICANT TO PARENTS AND STUDENTS, HOSTING SCHOOL EVENTS BEFORE TRANSFORMATION TO A COMMUNITY ROOM. FROM 1931 TO 1945, BOB BARTON, SR. SERVED AS SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT, IN ADDITION TO HIS OTHER DUTIES AS BUS DRIVER, TEACHER AND COACH. HE AND HIS WIFE, MARIETTA, AIDED IN THE FIGHT FOR SCHOOL INTEGRATION, WHICH BEGAN WHEN THE CITY'S MEXICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL CLOSED IN 1948. AFRICAN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WERE ABLE TO ATTEND THE MAIN SCHOOL IN 1956, WITH GRADES ONE THROUGH EIGHT INTEGRATED BY 1961. BUDA, KYLE AND WIMBERLEY SCHOOLS JOINED IN 1967 TO FORM HAYS CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT (WIMBERLEY HAS SINCE REFORMED A SEPARATE DISTRICT). TODAY, THIS SCHOOL, NOW BUDA ELEMEN-TARY, CONTINUES TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY AS AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITU-TION AND GATHERING PLACE, MORE THAN 100 YEARS AFTER IT FIRST OPENED. (2007)