Site of Beasley School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna pass it right along to you. Back in 1885, school-age children in this part of Lavaca County were making their way to something called the Broom Weed school, sitting right there on South Mustang Creek. A woman named Mary Singer stood at the front of one single classroom and taught all the children.

Every last one of them. Now, that crude frame schoolhouse served its purpose for a time, but by 1890 somebody took a hard look at it and decided it just wasn't going to cut it anymore. It was deemed inadequate.

So what do you do when the schoolhouse won't do? Well, if you're Mr. and Mrs. W.

J. Beasley, you open up the second floor of your own home for classes. Same year, the Beasleys went a step further and donated an acre of land so a proper one-room school building could be put up.

The new school got renamed Beasley, after the folks who gave the land. And the first teacher to walk through that door was Mary Boone. Then in 1910, a two-room schoolhouse went up on two acres purchased from a man named G.

C. Thompson. The place kept improving.

Between 1921 and 1923, a teacherage was constructed, along with a water well and a windmill. Now here's the thing about Beasley School that tells you everything about the community it served. In its early years, students only attended five months out of the year.

This was farming country, and the school year bent itself around the growing season, around the planting, the tending, and the harvest, because those children were needed at home. Over time, five months stretched to eight, and then to nine. The school became more than a place for lessons.

It became a center of community life. That went on until 1951, when Beasley School was closed and annexed to the Shiner school district. The buildings don't stand anymore.

But in this part of Lavaca County, Beasley School doesn't need walls to matter. The story's still here.

What the marker says

School-age children in this part of Lavaca County first attended the Broom Weed school on South Mustang Creek as early as 1885. Mary Singer taught all the children in a single classroom. In 1890 the crude frame schoolhouse was deemed inadequate, and Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Beasley opened the second floor of their home for classes. That same year the Beasleys donated an acre of land for a new one-room school building. Mary Boone was the first teacher in the new school, renamed Beasley for the property donors. In 1910 a two-room schoolhouse was built on two acres purchased from G. C. Thompson. Additional improvements to the property were made in 1921-1923, when a teacherage, a water well and a windmill were constructed. In its early years, Beasley students attended school only five months out of the year. As this was a rural farming area, the school year was often determined by the growing season, when students needed to help at home with the planting, tending and harvest. Over the years, the school year expanded to eight months and then nine months. Until it was closed in 1951 and annexed to the Shiner school district, Beasley School was a center of community activities. Although the buildings associated with the school no longer stand, Beasley School remains an important part of the history of this part of Lavaca County. (2001)