Simonton School

Duane's take

Here's how the marker at Simonton School tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Back in 1893, Simonton Common School District No. 10 formed out here in Fort Bend County. That's your starting point.

But a school district is just a promise on paper until somebody puts up a building, and for a good while, that's about all it was. Then in 1911, two men, J. B.

Jamison and J. W. Mullins, deeded land right here at this site for a new frame school.

That's the kind of gesture a community makes when it's serious about itself. Now a frame school, that'll do. But this town had bigger ideas brewin'.

By 1925, they brought in Louis Glover, a noted Houston architect, and Louis Glover did not come to play it safe. He designed a two-story school for nine grades, and he did it in Art Deco style. You know what that means, out here on the Texas coastal plain where the land is flat and the horizon is wide.

It means somebody stood up and said: we are going to build something worth lookin' at. The building rose with a stuccoed brick symmetrical facade, porticoes framing the entrance, grouped windows catchin' the light, and ornamentation tiles pressed into the surface like a signature. First floor, classrooms.

Second floor, and here's where it gets interesting, an auditorium, a stage, dressing rooms, and a kitchen. A kitchen and a stage, under the same roof. That tells you everything about what this place was meant to be.

It wasn't just a school. During the Great Depression, these walls held community dances, suppers, elections, church services, and home canning. People came here to eat, to vote, to pray, to put up preserves, and yes, to cut loose on that auditorium floor when the music started.

A building earns its history one gathering at a time, and this one earned plenty. In 1950, Lamar Consolidated ISD annexed Simonton, and the district that had started as a common school back in 1893 folded into something larger. But the building, with its Art Deco face and its second-floor stage, kept right on standin'.

Some places just refuse to be forgotten.

What the marker says

IN 1893, SIMONTON COMMON SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 10 FORMED. J. B. JAMISON AND J. W. MULLINS DEEDED LAND AT THIS SITE FOR A NEW FRAME SCHOOL IN 1911. IN 1925, NOTED HOUSTON ARCHITECT LOUIS GLOVER DESIGNED THIS TWO-STORY SCHOOL FOR NINE GRADES. THE ART DECO-STYLE BUILDING HAS A STUCCOED BRICK SYMMETRICAL FAÇADE WITH PORTICOES, GROUPED WINDOWS AND ORNAMENTATION TILES. CLASSROOMS WERE ON THE FIRST FLOOR, WITH AN AUDITORIUM, STAGE, DRESSING ROOMS AND KITCHEN ABOVE. THE FACILITY ALSO HOSTED COMMUNITY DANCES, SUPPERS, ELECTIONS, CHURCH SERVICES, AND HOME CANNING DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION. LAMAR CONSOLIDATED ISD ANNEXED SIMONTON IN 1950.