Iowa Park Consolidated Independent School District

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna let Iowa Park speak for itself. Picture a brand-new town, barely platted, and already somebody's thinking about the children. That's where this story starts.

The year is 1888, and the first school building in Iowa Park goes up almost before the dust has settled on the survey stakes. At that point Iowa Park is sitting inside Wichita County Rural School District Number Seven, which is where it would stay until 1899, when it broke off and became its own independent school district. One room, then two, then four.

Four rooms, and still it wasn't enough. The town kept growing, and the school kept chasing it. So they put up a new brick structure in 1901, and then another one in 1916, because that's just what Iowa Park did.

It built. Now, accreditation, that's a different kind of building entirely. You're not laying bricks, you're proving something.

Superintendent W. R. Bradford took that on, and in 1921 he got it done.

When that accreditation came through, the district had 11 teachers and 495 students. Four years later, by the 1925 to 1926 school year, those numbers had climbed to 25 teachers and 595 students. The town wasn't slowing down, and neither was the school.

The same energy that earned accreditation produced the W. F. George High School, built in 1924.

Thirteen classrooms, a laboratory, an office, a library, and an 800-seat auditorium. Eight hundred seats in Iowa Park, Texas. That's not a school building.

That's a statement. Meanwhile, the 1916 structure found a new purpose as the Ward School for Elementary Students, which is the kind of thing that happens when a community refuses to waste anything it's built. Then came 1940, and Works Progress Administration funds made it possible to erect a new elementary school, one that came with a cafeteria.

A year later, in 1941, five rural school districts consolidated with Iowa Park, and just like that the campus had more students, more responsibility, and more reason to keep expanding. The growth didn't stop there. In 1960, Ethyle Kidwell Elementary became the first school to move off the original campus, a sign that Iowa Park had outgrown the ground it started on.

W. R. Bradford Elementary opened in 1963.

Iowa Park High School opened on a new campus in 1970, and that same year Valley View schools joined with Iowa Park to form the Iowa Park Consolidated Independent School District. One school building in 1888. By the end of the twentieth century, five campuses, more than two thousand students, and a district still in the business of providing a quality education.

From one room to five campuses. Iowa Park didn't just keep up with its own growth. It planned for it, built for it, and voted for it, one brick, one consolidation, one school year at a time.

What the marker says

The first school building in Iowa Park was erected in 1888, soon after the town was platted. Iowa Park was in Wichita County Rural School District No. 7 until it became an independent school district in 1899. The school grew to four rooms but soon was inadequate for the growing student population. New brick structures were erected in 1901 and 1916. Superintendent W. R. Bradford sought accreditation for the district and achieved this goal in 1921. At that time there were 11 teachers and 495 students; by the 1925-1926 school year there were 25 teachers and 595 students. The new W. F. George High School, built in 1924, had 13 classrooms, a laboratory, office, library and an 800-seat auditorium. The 1916 structure became the Ward School for Elementary Students. Works Progress Administration funds made possible the erection of a new elementary school with a cafeteria in 1940. Five rural school districts consolidated with Iowa Park in 1941, and the campus grew with the student body. In 1960 Ethyle Kidwell Elementary was the first school to move off the original campus. W. R. Bradford Elementary opened in 1963. Iowa Park High School opened on a new campus in 1970, the same year Valley View schools joined with Iowa Park to form the Iowa Park Consolidated Independent School District. By the end of the 20th century, Iowa Park schools had expanded from one room to five campuses. With more than 2,000 students, the school district continues to provide a quality education. (1999)