Novohrad School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Novohrad School, out there in Lavaca County. Pull up a chair, because this one's got roots that go all the way back to the old country. Now, by the 1880s, a little settlement called Novohrad was finding its footing in rural Lavaca County.

It had a store, a cotton gin, a nursery, residences, the kinds of things that say a community means to stay. The name Novohrad came from a town in Bohemia, and the people who built this place brought a whole lot of the old world with them, language and all. In 1882, local residents did what serious communities do.

They established a school. Novohrad School went up alongside the nearby Grieve School, which was built for children of German families in the area. Two schools, neighbors, each serving its own community.

The land for Novohrad School came from Anna and Wenzel Wagner, Sr., who sold the property to Kasper Holub, president of the board of trustees. Later, Anna Neigebauer and Emma and Jim Rab sold additional acreage to the school. People giving what they had so children could have something more.

That first school was a single room. One room, all those kids, all those grades. But in 1900, a two-room structure went up to replace it, and this one had something the old building never dreamed of: a stage.

A real stage, used for plays, including Czech productions performed by adults, graduation ceremonies, and other activities. You imagine that, a little rural schoolhouse out in Lavaca County, and on any given evening the Czech language ringing off those walls in full dramatic performance. The new building housed up to ten grades, though not every grade was represented every year.

Peak enrollment hit eighty-one students. Classes covered geography, history, math, English, reading, spelling, and physical education. Some pupils learned to read and write in the Czech language through extracurricular tutoring, keeping that connection to Bohemia alive one lesson at a time.

The school also fielded volleyball, basketball, and baseball teams. But not every story that started in that schoolhouse had a happy ending. Two former students, George Pavlicek and Adolph Rab, lost their lives in military service during World War II.

That's worth sitting with for a moment. Boys who once learned to spell and read and maybe ran out onto a baseball diamond on a Lavaca County afternoon. Gone.

In 1953, Novohrad School closed. Most students began attending classes in the Moulton Independent School District. The marker tells us that many of the former students went on to achieve professional success, due in part to their education at this school.

A one-room building that became a two-room building with a stage, out on land sold piece by piece by families who believed in it. That's not nothing. That's a whole lot of something.

Novohrad School is remembered today as a place of learning for children of Czech descent living in that rural community, and now you know why it deserves to be remembered.

What the marker says

For decades, Novohrad School provided educational opportunities for children living in the rural Bohemian community of Novohrad. By the 1880s, Novohrad, which took its name from a town in Bohemia, was a growing settlement consisting of a store, cotton gin, nursery and residences. In 1882, local residents established Novohrad School along with the nearby Grieve School, built for children of German families. Students attended class in a one-room building on property sold by Anna and Wenzel Wagner, Sr. to Kasper Holub, president of the board of trustees. Anna Neigebauer and Emma and Jim Rab later sold additional acreage to the school. A two-room structure that included a stage used for plays (including Czech productions performed by adults), graduation ceremonies and other activities replaced the first school in 1900. The new building housed up to ten grades, although not every grade was represented each year. Peak enrollment was 81 students; classes included geography, history, math, English, reading, spelling and physical education. Some pupils learned to read and write in the Czech language in extracurricular tutoring. The school also had volleyball, basketball and baseball teams. Two former students, George Pavlicek and Adolph Rab, lost their lives in military service during World War II. In 1953, Novohrad School closed and most students began attending classes in the Moulton Independent School District. Many of the former students achieved professional success due in part to their education at this school. Today, the school is remembered as a place of learning form children of Czech descent living in the rural Novohrad community. (2007)