DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official Kennedale ISD marker has to say, so take it straight from the source. Now, you might pass through Kennedale today and think of it as just another piece of the Tarrant County tapestry, but this town had a character all its own — farming and brick manufacturing, two things that leave their mark on a place in ways you don't always expect. The town itself wasn't officially incorporated until 1947, which is late in the game by most measures.
But here's the thing about Kennedale's people: they didn't wait on anybody to tell them their children needed schooling. Around 1890, they established the Kennedale Independent School District, and they weren't starting small — they were starting from scratch. One teacher.
One two-story frame building. And an academic year that clocked in at exactly two months. Now before you raise an eyebrow at that, consider the world those families were living in.
This was an agricultural community. The fields didn't care about your school calendar, and so the calendar bent to the fields. For those families, two months was what they could give, and they gave it.
Over the next twenty years, the area grew, the way places do when people decide to put down roots and stay. And growth has a way of outpacing the buildings you build to contain it. By 1913, the Kennedale ISD had its eye on a new site — this very site — and when it came time to build, they didn't reach for lumber.
They reached for brick. Now, the marker doesn't spell out the reason, but it does note that Kennedale had a brick manufacturing heritage, and that new two-story building went up in brick, as solid and deliberate as the community that raised it. No running water.
No restroom facilities. But the property had a wide green space for gardening or outdoor activities, and the second floor — here's the part I love — the second floor had movable walls. You could push those walls back and the whole floor became an auditorium.
School plays, community events, whatever the town needed, that building could become it. Fast-forward to 1938. The Depression had settled over the country like a long, hard frost, and the Kennedale ISD was looking for ways to expand the campus.
They applied for funding through the Works Progress Administration — the WPA. Whether they were actually awarded those federal funds, nobody knows for certain. That piece of the story slipped through the cracks of the written record.
But oral history — the kind that lives in the memory of people who were there and the people who heard it from them — oral history says that old rock wall on the property came from the WPA. It may not be documented in any ledger, but it's remembered. And it's still standing.
The Kennedale ISD campus has changed and changed again over the years, as campuses do. But that rock wall remains, a Depression-era structure in Tarrant County, quietly outlasting everything that tried to replace it. Some things just hold.
What the marker says
Known for its farming and brick manufacturing, the town of Kennedale was not officially incorporated until 1947. However, the town's citizens recognized early the need for educational facilities for area families. To accommodate their need, the Kennedale Independent School District (ISD) was established around 1890. The first school was a two-story frame building located near the current Administration Building, with all students taught by one teacher. At that time, the academic year was only two months, suiting the needs of the agricultural community. Over the next twenty years, the area grew and so did the need for educational facilities. In 1913, the Kennedale ISD purchased this site for a new school. To reflect the town's brick manufacturing heritage, the new two-story building was constructed with brick. Althought the building had no running water or restroom facilities, the property included a large green space for gardening or outdoor activities. The second floor of the school featured movable walls to create an auditorium for school and community plays and events. In 1938, seeking federal assistance to expand the school campus, the school district applied for funding through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). While it is unknown if the school district was awarded federal funds to build new classrooms, oral history attributes the old rock wall to the WPA. The Kennedale ISD campus changed over the years, but the rock wall remains as a reminder of Tarrant County and Texas Depression-era structures. (2016)