Concord Schools

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Concord Schools up in Leon County. Now, pull up a chair, because this is one of those stories that starts small, grows tall, and then teaches you something on the way out. Formal schools in Concord operated for nearly a century.

Think about that for a moment. Nearly a century of chalk dust and spelling bees and school bells ringing out across the Texas countryside. It all traces back to a teacher named J.E.

Anderson, who was working the schoolrooms of Redland and Concord in the late 1870s and early 1880s. A pioneer of the kind who shows up before the building does. And sure enough, a building came.

A two-story frame schoolhouse, active from the early 1880s all the way to 1919, stood on the hill that would later be occupied by the Old Methodist Church. Two stories. In a rural Texas community.

Somebody meant business. When it came time to move forward, the trustees bought land from D.W. Montgomery, and in April of 1920, a two-story red brick building was completed.

Now they didn't just tear down that old wooden schoolhouse. They moved it right next door, put it to work for the primary grades. That old frame building had some life left in it yet.

Then in 1927 came a new two-story structure, and this one had an auditorium, used for both school and community purposes. That's the kind of building a town gathers around. And the wooden schoolhouse moved again, this time to Concord Hill West, where it served as an African American school.

Meanwhile, Concord School added home economics and agriculture classes the following year, rounding out what students could learn under that roof. Then 1929 rolled in and brought company. Griffin, Bowling, Hickory Grove, Redland, and Union schools all consolidated with Concord.

Five schools folding into one. Four years later, in 1933, the school achieved state accreditation, and attendance peaked above four hundred students. Four hundred students in a rural community school.

The gold and white Concord Bulldogs were out there competing in district sports and other school activities, carrying that name with some pride, you can bet. The Concord Independent School District organized in 1937, and five years later the school added twelfth grade coursework. It was growing, reaching, stretching toward something bigger.

But enrollment dwindled. By 1948 the school reclassified to an eight-grade system, and students who needed high school were attending in Centerville. Then in 1950, six one- and two-teacher African American schools consolidated to a single campus at Concord, and that effort was succeeded by Carver Elementary and High School in 1953.

Two communities, two parallel stories of education, both winding through the same patch of Leon County ground. And in 1960, the Board of Education voted to consolidate with Marquez and Jewett to form Leon Independent School District. That was the end of Concord Schools as its own institution.

Nearly a century after J.E. Anderson stood up in front of a classroom in Redland, the chapter closed. But not everything disappeared.

The home economics building remained, repurposed as a community center, a polling place, and a post office. The site still stands as a testimonial, the marker says, to the importance of rural education in the area. Nearly a century of learning, in a place that refused to forget what it had built.

What the marker says

Formal schools in Concord operated for nearly a century. J.E. Anderson taught in Redland and Concord in the late 1870s and early 1880s. A two-story frame schoolhouse, active from the early 1880s to 1919, stood on the hill later occupied by the Old Methodist Church. Trustees bought land from D.W. Montgomery, with a two-story red brick building completed in April 1920. The wooden schoolhouse was moved adjacent to the new building and used for primary grades. A new two-story structure, built in 1927, included an auditorium used for school and community purposes. The wooden schoolhouse moved to Concord Hill West for use as an African American School. Concord School added home economics and agriculture classes the following year. In 1929, Griffin, Bowling, Hickory Grove, Redland and Union schools consolidated with Concord, and in 1933 the school achieved state accreditation and attendance peaked above 400 students. The gold and white Concord Bulldogs participated in district sports and other school activities. The Concord Independent School District organized in 1937, and five years later added twelfth grade coursework. However, enrollment dwindled, and in 1948 the school reclassified to an eight-grade system, with students attending high school in Centerville. In 1950, six one- and two-teacher African American schools consolidated to one campus at Concord, succeeded by Carver Elementary and High School in 1953. In 1960, the Board of Education voted to consolidate with Marquez and Jewett to form Leon Independent School District. The home economics building remained as a community center, polling place and post office. The site remains a testimonial to the importance of rural education in the area. (2008)