Early Kirbyville Schools

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Back in 1895, the town of Kirbyville was still fresh on the map, and somebody with foresight set aside a 2.07-acre lot from the H&TC survey. For a school.

Now that might not sound like much, but that little piece of ground was about to carry a whole lot of history on its back. A 40 by 60 foot frame school opened in 1896, and the kids of Kirbyville had a place to learn. Fine.

Good. Except, well, 1904 came around, and that first school burned. Gone.

So the town built a second one, bigger, two stories this time, which sounds like progress. And it was, right up until 1917, when that second structure was lost to fire too. You start to see a pattern developing here.

Two schools. Two fires. Now some towns might've taken that as a sign.

Kirbyville was not that kind of town. The residents passed a $25,000 bond and said: we're building in brick this time. The red brick structure went up with two floors and a basement, and the masonry on the front read Kirbyville High School, though you should know all grades were taught inside those walls.

The grounds had playgrounds and a baseball field out at the northwest corner, and for a good long while, that school was the beating heart of the community. A superintendent named B.W. Martin led the way, long-time in the job, and under his watch the school grew right along with the district around it.

It kept serving the people of Kirbyville all the way until 1967. Three buildings on the same ground, two of them taken by fire, one of them built to last. That's the story of the early schools of Kirbyville, and brick, it turns out, was the right answer.

What the marker says

In the new town of Kirbyville in 1895, a 2.07-acre lot was set aside from the H&TC survey for a school. A 40 by 60 foot frame school opened in 1896. When it burned in 1904, a much larger two-story school was constructed. In 1917, the second structure was lost to fire. For the third building, residents passed a $25,000 bond to build a brick school. Although the masonry read "Kirbyville High School," all grades were taught. The red brick structure boasted two floors and a basement. The grounds featured playgrounds and a baseball field at the northwest corner. Led by B.W. Martin, long-time superintendent, the school became a center of the community. As the district grew, the school continued to serve until closing in 1967. (2023)