Lipscomb School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Around 1886, a man named J.H. Arthur set down roots in the Texas Panhandle and built himself a store and a post office, both of them made from cottonwood logs.

That was how the town of Lipscomb got started. And where towns go, people follow, and where people follow, children come along, and children, well, they need somewhere to learn. So on July 16, 1887, a special meeting was called.

The purpose: organize a school district and build a schoolhouse in Lipscomb. Simple enough plan. Getting there was a little more interesting.

The first school didn't open in a brand new building. The Lipscomb school trustees went out and purchased a church, the old Dunkard Church, a small one-room affair. Starting in 1888, that building served two masters at once, school during the week, church when the congregation needed it.

Now, a one-room schoolhouse and a church sharing the same walls is the kind of arrangement that works until it doesn't. Enrollment grew, the community grew, and by 1908 they put up a proper two-story, four-room schoolhouse. That felt like permanence.

It was not. In 1922, a fire believed to be caused from lightning destroyed the building. Just like that, gone.

But here is where the story turns, because the school district trustees did not wait, did not wring their hands for long. They began discussions about a new school almost immediately. The J.D.

Stevens Construction Company went to work that same year, 1922, and by the fall of 1923 classes were back in session. While the new brick school was going up, students made do, holding classes in the church and in two rooms of the courthouse. When the new Lipscomb School finally opened, it had four classrooms, two bathrooms, a library, an office, and a large auditorium.

It carried a full enrollment, a high school and a grade school under one roof. Students ran track, competed in literary events, played tennis, basketball, and football. For a stretch of years, Lipscomb School was the beating heart of that farming community.

Then came 1941, the last graduating class, six graduates walking out those doors. After that, students began to be transported by bus to nearby high schools, and Lipscomb School became a grade school only. The population of the area declined, the way it does in rural places, quietly and then all at once, and in 1975 the school closed.

What started with cottonwood logs and a borrowed church eventually became a brick building, a library, a running track, and six young people crossing a stage in 1941. That's not nothing. That's a community deciding, again and again, that its children were worth the trouble.

What the marker says

Around 1886, the town of Lipscomb was established by J.H. Arthur who built a store and post office out of cottonwood logs. As more people moved to the area, the need for a school arose and, on July 16, 1887, a special meeting was called to organize a school district and build a schoolhouse in Lipscomb. The first school began in a church purchased by the Lipscomb school trustees in 1888. The building, formerly the Dunkard Church, was a small, one-room school. The school and church both utilized the building until a new two-story, four-room schoolhouse was built in 1908 to accommodate an increase in enrollment. In 1922, a fire believed to be caused from lightning destroyed the building. The school district trustees immediately began discussions about a new school. J.D. Stevens Construction Company began work on the school in 1922 and classes started in the fall of 1923. While the new brick school was being built, classes were held in the church and in two rooms of the courthouse. The new Lipscomb School included four classrooms, two bathrooms, a library, office and a large auditorium. The Lipscomb School had full enrollment with a high school and a grade school. Students participated in track, literary events, tennis, basketball and football. The last graduating class was in 1941 with six graduates. Students began to be transported by bus to nearby high schools and the Lipscomb School became a grade school. In 1975, as the population of the area declined, the school closed. The school is a testament to the value of education in this rural, farming community. (2013)