Forney Independent School District

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, before Forney was Forney, it went by Brooklyn, and somewhere around 1868, somebody in that little town decided the children needed schooling. What they built was about as humble as a beginning gets: a sixteen-by-sixteen-foot room.

That's it. Sixteen feet by sixteen feet; you could pace it off in about four steps each direction. And that one small room pulled double duty, serving as both a schoolhouse and a Union church.

One room. Two purposes. A whole community's hopes stacked inside those walls.

Now that's a foundation. Fast forward to 1876, and Forney School District No. 9 gets itself formally organized, folded into a county-wide school system. Things were taking shape.

But the years have a way of making yesterday's building feel a little tight, and by 1889 that original structure gave way to something with a bit more ambition: a two-story wooden school building. Two stories. In a town that started with a sixteen-by-sixteen box.

Progress has its own kind of swagger. Then came 1899, and Forney made a move that said loud and clear this community was planting its flag; the Forney Independent School District was formed. Standing on its own.

And if you needed any more proof that Forney meant business, well, 1903 delivered it: an imposing brick and stone building superseded that wooden structure. Brick. And stone.

The kind of building that tells a child walking through its doors that their education matters. But here's the chapter that really sticks with you. The year is 1938, the country is still finding its footing, and through a WPA grant, the present edifice goes up.

Built by those programs that put American hands to work building things meant to last. And last it did; long enough that in more recent times, the community came back around and restored that very 1938 Forney High School building. From a sixteen-by-sixteen room in a town called Brooklyn, to a WPA-built landmark still standing in a place called Forney.

Some stories don't need embellishing. They just need telling.

What the marker says

Public education began in Forney (then named Brooklyn) about 1868 when a 16' x 16' room was built, serving as both a schoolhouse and Union church. Forney School District No. 9, formed in 1876, was part of a county-wide school system. In 1889 the first structure was replaced by a 2-story wooden school building. In 1899 the Forney Independent School District was formed. An imposing brick and stone building superseded the wooden structure in 1903. The present edifice was erected in 1938 by a WPA grant. Recent activities included the restoration of the 1938 Forney High School building.