DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Ector County, the story of education starts about as lean as you can get. It's early 1890, and a woman named Inez Rathbun is earning money teaching area students inside the Ector County Courthouse.
Not a schoolhouse — the courthouse. That's your whole system right there, one room, one woman, borrowed walls. About the same time, Ector County organized a public school system, and from that modest start, the number of students in the area steadily increased over the next decades.
By 1921, the Texas Legislature made it official, establishing the Ector County Independent School District — ECISD. Both Anglo and Mexican-American students attended the same school. But African American students in the district didn't have a school of their own until 1932, when the district established the first one — a single room, standing at the corner of South Muskingum and Myrtle streets.
Ella Sayles walked in as the first teacher, faced an initial class of eight students, and the work began. Eight kids. One room.
One teacher. That's where this story takes root. The school grew.
The district added a second classroom, then stretched into space at a nearby church, then added three more rooms in the 1940s. But growth has a way of outrunning walls. By the 1947-48 school year, population had swelled so much that students had to attend classes in shifts — same building, different hours, trading places just to fit.
Something had to give. In the fall of 1948, it did. A full campus opened at this very site for Blackshear High School — named for Edward Lavoisier Blackshear, noted Texas black educator.
The school brought expanded facilities for African American students in the upper grade levels, and that name carried weight with it. When integration of all district schools came in 1966, the campus didn't sit idle — it was converted for use as Blackshear Middle School. Then in 1983, it became a magnet elementary school.
From a courthouse corner in 1890 to a campus that kept right on serving — the link to early education in this community, and to the educator whose name it carries, remains significant today.
What the marker says
In early 1890, Inez Rathbun earned money teaching area students at the Ector County Courthouse. About the same time, Ector County organized a public school system. Over the next decades, the number of students in the area steadily increased. In 1921, the Texas Legislature officially established the Ector County Independent School District (ECISD). Both Anglos and Mexican-American students attended the same school. In 1932, the district established the first African American school in a one-room structure at the corner of South Muskingum and Myrtle streets. Ella Sayles served as the first teacher for the initial class of eight students. As the school grew, the district added a second classroom and utilized space at a nearby church. Although the district added three more rooms in the 1940s, by the 1947-48 school year, increased population caused the students to attend classes in shifts. In the fall of 1948, a campus for Blackshear High School opened at this site. Named for the noted Texas black educator Edward Lavoisier Blackshear, the school provided expanded facilities for African American students in the upper grade levels. Upon integration of all the district schools in 1966, the campus was converted for use as Blackshear Middle School. In 1983, it became a magnet elementary school. Its link to early education in the community and to its namesake educator remain significant today. (2006)