Lavon School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Now, the community of Lavon, Texas has a school story that stretches back further than most folks realize, and it takes a few unexpected turns before it's done. The first school in this community was no modest little one-room affair.

It was a two-story brick building. Right from the start, Lavon was building with intention. Then in 1910, the Little Creek School, which had been organized way back in 1885, closed its doors and transferred over to the Lavon School District number 135.

So Lavon inherited that legacy and carried it forward. But here's where the story really picks up steam. Between 1938 and 1940, a brand new school building for the Lavon Independent School District went up, built through the Works Progress Administration, the WPA.

Now the WPA was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. It was designed to be an extension of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration Work Program, funding projects at the state and local level.

The goal was straightforward and ambitious all at once: employ most of the unemployed people on relief until the economy recovered. That's a lot of weight for a school building to carry, and Lavon's building carried it. While the new school was being erected, the students didn't just sit at home twiddling their thumbs.

They attended classes in the Charlie Callahan Store, located north of the school. You find a way, you make a way. And the construction crew, well, there's something worth lingering on here.

They rotated the work. Rotated it deliberately, so that everyone in the community who needed a job would get their chance, with wages running around three dollars and fifty cents a day. That's not just building a school.

That's a community taking care of its own, one shift at a time. When the building was finished, it wasn't just anybody who came out to mark the occasion. United States Congressman Sam Rayburn dedicated the building in the fall of 1941.

The five-classroom school had been designed by architect Hoke Smith, and it wasn't short on ambition, a large gymnasium with hardwood floors, and a kitchen and lunchroom on the south side of the main building. Then in 1949, the story shifted again. The Lavon School District consolidated with the Copeville, Josephine, and Nevada districts to form the Community Independent School District.

The Lavon School Campus served as the district's elementary school for a time, and then life kept moving around it, it became a factory, then a community library, and eventually the Lavon city hall. Same walls, same hardwood floors laid by hands that needed the work. Different chapters, same building, still standing in the middle of the community that built it.

What the marker says

The first school in the community of Lavon was a two-story brick building. In 1910, the Little Creek School, which was organized in 1885, closed and transferred to the Lavon School District no. 135. Between 1938 and 1940, the school building for the Lavon Independent School District was built through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, the WPA was to be an extension of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration Work Program which funded projects at the state and local level. The goal of the program was to employ most of the unemployed people on relief until the economy recovered. While the school was being erected, students attended classes in the Charlie Callahan Store, located north of the school. The construction crew rotated so that everyone in the community that needed work would have the opportunity with wages around $3.50 per day. United States Congressman Sam Rayburn dedicated the building in the fall of 1941. The five-classroom school was designed by architect Hoke Smith and included a large gymnasium with hardwood floors and a kitchen and lunchroom on the south side of the main building. In 1949, the Lavon School District consolidated with the Copeville, Josephine and Nevada districts to form the Community Independent School District. The Lavon School Campus served as the district’s elementary school for a time. Later it was used as a factory and a community library before use as the Lavon city hall.