Site of Baursville School

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Baursville School, and I'm just passing it along. Out in Lavaca County, sometime around 1881, a settler named August Baur and his wife Emilie made a decision that would shape the community for generations. August, born in 1841, and Emilie, born in 1848, donated five acres, about a mile and a half north of where this marker stands, for a community school.

And not long after that donation, a one-room schoolhouse went up on that land. Now think about who filled those seats on day one. Many of the students came from German and Czech families who had settled the area.

So right from the start, that little one-room building was doing double duty, offering instruction in both German and English. Two languages, one room, one teacher, one stove I'd imagine, though the marker doesn't say so and I won't guess. Keeping the lights on wasn't simple.

Tuition charges and private donations carried the school through about five months of each year. That's it. Five months.

The rest of the year, those families were on their own. And when the schoolhouse wasn't holding classes, it was holding church. The Reverend Wilhelm Westerhoff, of Moulton's Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, held religious services right there in that building.

Then 1892 came along, and with it, a severe storm. The damage was bad enough that local citizens didn't patch the old place. They built new.

A three-room structure, right here on this site, and they gave it a proper name: Concordia School No. 33. By 1895 the school had gone public, and with that change came a new name. They called it Baursville School, for August Baur, who was also recognized as the founder of the community.

August himself would pass in 1902, and Emilie in 1901. They didn't live to see the renovation of 1927, when the building was fixed up again, but they had already left their mark. At its height, Baursville School offered instruction in ten grades and served around ninety-five students.

For a rural community school, that's no small thing. But 1951 arrived, and with it, annexation to the Moulton Independent School District. The Baursville School's run was over.

And sometime after that, the building was razed. Gone now. Just a marker and a story about two people who gave five acres so their neighbors' children could learn to read, in two languages, five months at a time.

What the marker says

Early settlers August Baur (1841-1902) and his wife Emilie (1848-1901) donated five acres about 1.5 miles north of this site for a community school in 1881. A one-room school building was erected shortly thereafter. Because many students who first attended the school were members of German and Czech families who settled this area, instruction initially was offered in both the German and English languages. Tuition charges and private donations supported the school for about five months of the year. The school building was also the site of religious services held by the Rev. Wilhelm Westerhoff of Moulton's Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1892 severe storm damage to the school building prompted local citizens to erect a new three-room structure here which they named Concordia School No. 33. After becoming a public school in 1895, its name was changed to Baursville for August Baur who was also recognized as the founder of the community. The Baursville School building was renovated in 1927. At its height the school offered instruction in ten grades for about 95 students. The school continued to serve students in the rural Baursville area until 1951 when it was annexed to the Moulton Independent School District. The school building was later razed. 1994