Green Valley Schools

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Green Valley Schools, out here in Denton County. Now, before a place can have a proud school history, it needs a name worth being proud of. And this community, back around 1870, did not yet have one.

Fertile farmland and plentiful timber had drawn settlers in, which is a fine start. But the name they were working with? Toll Town.

Named for two roads that crossed right at this spot. Toll Town. You can imagine the schoolchildren were not exactly writing that on their book covers with flourish.

Enter Henry Clay Wilmoth, schoolteacher. He suggested the name change to Green Valley. And just like that, the place had a name that fit the land.

The post office opened in 1874, stores followed, a blacksmith shop set up, and life took root. The first recorded subscription school for Green Valley children came together in 1878, held in a vacant farmhouse. Not a schoolhouse.

A farmhouse somebody wasn't using at the moment. That is how education begins in a young community: you use what you have. Then came 1881, and the Texas and Pacific Railroad made its decision.

It bypassed Green Valley. A railroad bypassing your town in that era was no small thing. Residents left.

Businesses closed. The community took a real blow. But here is the thing about Green Valley.

It did not quit. In 1884, the Green Valley public school district was organized as District No. 20. Local carpenters Sam Gross and James Mays built a proper one-room schoolhouse.

Lutie Whayne stepped in as the first teacher in that building. That is a name worth saying slowly. Lutie Whayne.

First teacher in the first real schoolhouse. That building burned in 1894. And the community replaced it that same year, at a site about one-half mile north of the first schoolhouse.

They did not wait. They did not debate for long. They built.

A third school came along in 1919, a new four-room building, and it greeted students with room to grow. By 1935, Green Valley School offered first through ninth grades, so students who wanted to finish out their education made the trip to Denton to do it. The school closed in 1949, with Florence Habern serving as the last teacher.

By then, it had given several generations of students in this rural area fine academic and athletic opportunities. That is not a small legacy for a place that started in a vacant farmhouse. And that 1919 four-room building?

It is still standing. Still in use, as a community center. A school that would not quit, in a town that would not quit, still showing up for the people of Green Valley.

What the marker says

Fertile farmland and plentiful timber attracted settlers to this part of Denton County about 1870. The community that developed originally was called Toll Town because of two roads that intersected at this point. Schoolteacher Henry Clay Wilmoth suggested the name change to Green Valley. The post office opened in 1874, and there were several stores and a blacksmith shop in the community when the first recorded subscription school for Green Valley children began in a vacant farmhouse in 1878. Although the community lost a number of residents and businesses when the Texas and Pacific Railroad bypassed it in 1881, the Green Valley public school district was organized as District No. 20 in 1884. Local carpenters Sam Gross and James Mays built a one-room schoolhouse, in which Lutie Whayne was the first teacher. That building burned in 1894, and it was replaced that year at a site about one-half mile north of the first schoolhouse. Green Valley's third school, a new, four-room building, greeted students in 1919. In 1935 Green Valley School District offered only first through ninth grades, so students traveled to Denton to complete their education. By the time Green Valley School closed in 1949, with Florence Habern as the last teacher, it had provided fine academic and athletic opportunities for several generations of students in this rural area. The 1919 school building continues in use as a community center. (2001)