Burke School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. The community of Burke got its start along the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad in 1882. Now, right from the beginning, somebody was thinking about the children.

S. J. and Nancy Arrington conveyed one acre of land adjoining the town, set aside specifically to establish a public school. One acre.

That's a handshake with the future right there. They put up a one-room structure first, the way folks did, modest and practical. But the community had ideas, and within a few years that building grew to three rooms.

By 1887, enrollment was running about fifty students filing through those doors. Burke was building something. Come 1910, the voters approved a bond to erect a brick schoolhouse, grades one through seven, a proper statement in fired clay and mortar that this district meant business.

And for many years, Burke operated as an independent district, answering to nobody but itself. Then 1935 arrived and that brick edifice came down. In its place rose a larger schoolhouse, this one built with Works Progress Administration funds.

A new era wearing the same hometown address. The years kept turning, and in 1964 the Burke Independent School District was consolidated with the Diboll schools. Could've been the end of the story for that old schoolhouse.

But Burke, being Burke, found another use for it. The building stayed in service to the community, this time as a senior citizens center and a polling place. One acre of land, one room that grew to three, a brick building, then a larger one, and then, long after the last school bell rang, a place where the community still gathered.

That schoolhouse never really retired. It just changed what it was teaching.

What the marker says

The community of Burke was established along the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad in 1882. S. J. and Nancy Arrington conveyed one acre of land adjoining the town on which to establish a public school. The first building, a one-room structure, was enlarged to three rooms within a few years. The 1887 enrollment was about fifty students. Voters approved a bond in 1910 to erect a brick schoolhouse for grades 1 through 7. For many years, Burke was an independent district. The brick edifice was torn down in 1935 and replaced with a larger schoolhouse built with Works Progress Administration funds. After the Burke Independent School District was consolidated with the Diboll schools in 1964, the Burke schoolhouse remained in service to the community as a senior citizens center and polling place. (1999)