Nuecestown Schoolhouse

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1839, Colonel Henry Lawrence Kinney planted a trading post in the area we now call Corpus Christi. That was just the beginning.

By 1850, the Colonel had bigger plans, and he set his sights twelve miles up the Nueces River, where a settlement took shape. People came to call it Nuecestown. Now, a settlement needs certain things to take root, and one of them is a school.

Nuecestown got one, established some years prior to 1885, and by 1893 it had grown into one of the largest schools in the county. Thirty-two students. That may not sound like a crowd, but for a river settlement twelve miles from anywhere, that was something to be proud of.

Here's where the story gets a little grim. At least three school buildings served Nuecestown over the years. The first two burned.

Both of them. So the community built again, and this third structure, the one the marker is telling us about, went up sometime before 1892. One room.

A hipped roof with a central chimney. All grades, all classes, all under one roof. Originally it sat just west of the center of the community, and it did its job.

Then in 1908, a school called Bonnyview opened over in nearby Calallen. For a spell, students in the area could choose which school to attend. That grace period didn't last long.

In 1913, district officials closed the Nuecestown school and transferred those students to Calallen. The old schoolhouse didn't stay put after that. It was moved.

Twice. And yet here it stands, one of the few remaining structures from the Nuecestown settlement, a one-room building that outlasted fire, closure, and the slow forgetting that takes most things. Colonel Kinney's little river town is mostly gone now, but this schoolhouse is still making a point.

What the marker says

Colonel Henry Lawrence Kinney established a trading post in the area now known as Corpus Christi in 1839. In 1850 he planned a settlement, which came to be called Nuecestown, approximately twelve miles up the Nueces River. The public school in Nuecestown, established some years prior to 1885, was one of the largest in the county by 1893, with an enrollment of thirty-two students. At least three school buildings served the Nuecestown settlement. This structure, originally located just west of the center of the community, was erected after the first two schoolhouses burned. Constructed sometime before 1892, it features a hipped roof with a central chimney. Its one room accommodated all grades and classes of the Nuecestown school. In 1908 a school known as Bonnyview opened in nearby Calallen, and students in the area were allowed to attend the school of their choice. In 1913, however, district officials closed the Nuecestown school and transferred those students to Calallen. Twice moved, the Nuecestown schoolhouse stands as a reminder of early education in Nueces County and is one of the few remaining structures from the Nuecestown settlement.