County Line School, Church, and Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little room to breathe. There's a stretch of land out on the county line between De Witt and Lavaca counties, and if you blink while you're driving past, you might not think twice about what used to stand there. But this ground has got a long memory.

We're talking about three institutions, a school, a church, and a cemetery, that held a whole community together for the better part of a century. Two of them are gone now. One is still out there, quiet and patient, doing its work.

Let me tell you how it all went. The County Line School had what you might call a restless streak. It moved through five different buildings on six different sites, starting back in the eighteen sixties.

Now, that's a lot of packing and unpacking, but the school kept going. By 1898, the County Line School District stretched across several miles of both De Witt and Lavaca counties, and by 1927, eight grades were being taught under its roof. Then, in 1949, the district was consolidated into other De Witt County schools.

Just like that, the school's long wandering story came to a close. The County Line Baptist Church had its own chapter. When it was admitted into the Colorado Baptist Association in 1874, it came in with thirty members.

Thirty souls claiming a place. The church shared a building with the school on eight acres of land that had been conveyed by the Reverend Wade Hollan, and for a time those two institutions were neighbors under the same roof. Eventually, the church and the school moved their shared building over to the land of a local resident by the name of George Benbow.

Services were held there until 1919, when the church disbanded. Here's a small detail that has a quiet kind of weight to it. In 1902, three and a half of those eight acres that had once belonged to the Reverend Hollan were sold to the County Line Cemetery Association.

The land changed hands, the school moved on, the church eventually went silent, but the ground itself stayed in the story. Now, the oldest grave in the County Line Cemetery dates from 1867. But local tradition says the first person buried here was a Mr.

Simpson. The marker doesn't give us more than his name, and maybe that's enough. He was the first, at least in memory.

Since 1907, the cemetery has held a spring decoration day, families gathering year after year to tend to the place and to each other. The school is gone. The church is gone.

But the cemetery remains, still serving the surrounding area, still holding decoration day in the spring. Three institutions formed the backbone of the County Line community, and in the end, the one left standing is the one that was always going to outlast the others. That's not a tragedy exactly.

That's just how it goes out here on the county line.

What the marker says

The County Line School was housed in five different buildings on six different sites, beginning in the 1860s. In 1898, the County Line School District encompassed several miles in De Witt and Lavaca counties. By 1927, eight grades were taught at the school. The district was consolidated into other De Witt County schools in 1949. At its 1874 admission into the Colorado Baptist Association, the County Line Baptist Church avowed 30 members. After sharing a building with the County Line School on eight acres of land conveyed by the Rev. Wade Hollan, the church and school moved their building to local resident George Benbow's land. Services were held here until 1919, when the church disbanded. In 1902, 3.5 of the eight acres once owned by the Rev. Mr. Hollan were sold to the County Line Cemetery Association. Though the oldest grave in the County Line Cemetery dates from 1867, local tradition says that the first person to be buried here was a Mr. Simpson. Since 1907 the cemetery has held a spring decoration day for area families. All that remains of the three institutions which formed the backbone of the County Line community is the cemetery, which continues to serve the surrounding areas. (1997)