Powell Point School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most towns just happen. Kendleton was built on purpose.

It started in 1869, when William E. Kendall — an Anglo lawyer out of Richmond, Texas — took his plantation here in Fort Bend County and subdivided it. Cut it up into hundred-acre farm tracts.

And here's the thing that sets this story apart from the very beginning: he sold that land exclusively to Freedmen. Every single tract. By the 1880s, what had grown up on that land was a distinctly African American community.

They called it Kendleton. Now a community is more than land. A community needs roots, institutions, a future.

So in 1890, the local A.M.E. churches got together and built three one-room schools, forming Common School District No. 4 — an all-African American district. That district included the original land grant of Elizabeth Powell. That name, Powell, matters.

Remember it. Fast forward to 1903. A young man named Tellie B.

Mitchell graduates from Wiley College. He's a Kendleton native — this is his home, his people, his ground. And he comes back.

In 1904, Mitchell establishes Powell Point School in a two-room schoolhouse. Two rooms. That's where it starts.

The school prospered. And here's a number worth sitting with for a moment: in 1918, Powell Point graduated six students. Five of those six went on to college.

Five of them became educators. From a two-room schoolhouse in Kendleton, Texas. That is not an accident — that is what a determined man and a determined community can do.

But Mitchell wasn't finished. In 1923, he persuaded the Rosenwald Foundation to grant funds for a brand new Powell Point School facility — right here. Six classrooms.

A library. An auditorium. What had started in two rooms was now something people across southeast Texas were paying attention to.

Powell Point became a model institution. African American families throughout that whole region sought entry into its student body as an advantage — real, tangible, life-changing. T.

B. Mitchell served as school principal all the way until 1954. Half a century of showing up for Kendleton.

Today, Powell Point is an elementary school — still standing, still teaching, still locally revered as a symbol of Kendleton's unique cultural heritage and its promise for the future. Two rooms in 1904. A community's determination.

And a legacy that outlasted every obstacle put in its path. That's Kendleton. That's Powell Point.

What the marker says

William E. Kendall, an Anglo lawyer from Richmond, Texas, subdivided his plantation here into 100-acre farm tracts in 1869. He sold the land exclusively to Freedmen and by the 1880s a distinctly African American community named Kendleton had developed here. In 1890 local A. M. E. churches built three one-room schools to form Common School District No. 4, an all-African American district which included the original land grant of Elizabeth Powell. Tellie B. Mitchell, a Kendleton native and graduate of Wiley College (1903), returned to Kendleton and established Powell Point School in 1904 in a two-room schoolhouse. The school prospered and in 1918 graduated six students, five of whom went on to college and became educators. In 1923 Mitchell persuaded the Rosenwald Foundation to grant funds to build a new Powell Point School facility here with six classrooms, a library, and an auditorium. The school became a model institution and entry into its student body was an advantage sought by African American throughout southeast Texas. T. B. Mitchell served as school principal until 1954. Powell Point, today an elementary school, is a locally revered institution which symbolizes Kendleton's unique cultural heritage and promise for the future. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995