Site of Concord School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Way back in the 1850s, folks started puttin' down roots in this stretch of Williamson County. And wherever Texans settled, a schoolhouse wasn't far behind.

By 1857, this area already had a school going by the name of Clear Creek. Not a bad start for a young community. Then, in 1883, something new took shape over in Brizendine Mills.

They called it Concord School, and it was just findin' its footing. Five years later, by 1888, Concord had moved itself into the Bear Creek settlement, and just like that, it succeeded the old Clear Creek School. One chapter closing, another opening.

Now here's where it gets a little warmer. In 1896, two men, H. N.

Elliott and J. E. Elliott, gave their land right there on the shore of Bear Creek so the community could have itself a proper one-room schoolhouse.

Gave it. Just like that. A new structure went up in 1921, and the facility kept expanding as the need called for it.

By the 1930s, Concord School was full to bustin', with enrollment peaking at 133 students. Then the 1940s arrived, and the war pulled young men and women away to serve something larger than any one county or state. Enrollment dropped.

The school declined. But the graduates of Concord School, they went on to serve Williamson County, the State of Texas, and the nation. Turns out, that little one-room schoolhouse on the shore of Bear Creek was building something all along.

What the marker says

First settled in the 1850s, this area boasted a school named Clear Creek by 1857. Concord School was established in nearby Brizendine Mills in 1883. By 1888 the Concord School was located in the Bear Creek settlement, succeeding the Clear Creek School. In 1896 H. N. Elliott and J. E. Elliott gave their land on the shore of Bear Creek for the site of a one-room schoolhouse. A new structure was added in 1921, and the facility was expanded as necessary. Enrollment peaked at 133 in the 1930s, but the school declined in the 1940s as enrollment dropped and young men and women departed to participate in the war effort. Graduates of the Concord School served Williamson County, the State of Texas, and the nation. (1999)