Marion Public Schools

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The town of Marion, out in Guadalupe County, started life as a German settlement, founded in 1877 as a marketing and shipping point for the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroad. Now, a railroad town needs commerce, it needs community, and it needs somewhere to put the children while the grown-ups are busy.

Enter a man named T. W. Peirce.

He donated three thousand dollars, and land on top of it, for free public schools in Marion. Three thousand dollars and land. That is not a small gesture.

That is a statement. And Marion heard it. In 1878, the first schoolhouse went up.

You can almost picture it, a single building doing its level best to hold the future of a young railroad town. It served its purpose, and then Marion kept growing. By 1917, that first school gave way to a brick building facing Cunningham Street.

Brick. Permanent. The kind of thing you build when you intend to stay.

Then came 1938, and the Works Progress Administration put up a third building. Three buildings across three generations, each one saying the same thing louder than the last. As enrollment kept climbing, the grades were eventually split across three schools.

Three schools for one community. And here is what the marker wants you to know before you roll on down the road: Marion never stopped. The community continues the tradition of strong support of its district schools.

From T. W. Peirce's three thousand dollars to a three-school district, that town has been making good on a promise it made to itself back in 1877.

What the marker says

The town of Marion, a German settlement, was founded in 1877 as a marketing and shipping point for the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroad. T. W. Peirce donated $3,000 and land for free public schools in Marion. In 1878 the first schoolhouse was built. In 1917 a brick building facing Cunningham Street replaced the first school. In 1938 a third building was constructed by the Works Progress Administration. As student enrollment increased, the grades were split into three schools. The community continues the tradition of strong support of its district schools. (1996)