Site of Holt School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, two miles east of where you're rolling right now. Back in 1913, a man named G.C. Holt packed up his wife and eight children and moved them out to the Briscoe-Floyd county line.

Now, that is a long way from just about everything, and one of those everythings happened to be a school. So Holt did what a certain kind of Texan does when the world doesn't provide what he needs. He built it himself.

Well, with a little help. He and his neighbor E.M. Lawson put their heads together, and on September 7, 1920, the Holt School District was officially commissioned, with two acres of land to its name.

Just two acres. But two acres was enough. In 1921, the trustees raised a one-room frame schoolhouse on that ground, and when the doors opened, fifteen students walked in.

One teacher, grades one through seven, and a whole lot of open sky outside. Over the years, the teachers who came out to that lonesome county line didn't have much choice but to board with local families. That's just how it was.

The school and the community kept each other company. Then 1933 came around, and with it the Great Depression, and the Holt School closed. The little frame building stood there, vacant, for over a decade.

Then in 1944, it was dismantled. Gone. Later, what took the school's place on that same piece of ground was an irrigation well for area farms.

Same two acres. Different kind of life-giving. Funny how the land keeps on working even after the stories on top of it fade away.

What the marker says

(2 miles east) In 1913, G.C. Holt moved his wife and eight children to the Briscoe-Floyd county line. Because of the distance to the nearest school, Holt and neighbor E.M. Lawson organized the Holt School District, commissioned on September 7, 1920 with two acres of land. In 1921, trustees built a one-room frame schoolhouse, and it opened with 15 students, one teacher and courses for grades 1-7. Over the years, teachers often boarded with local families. The school closed in 1933 during the Great Depression, and the building stood vacant until 1944, when it was dismantled. Later, an irrigation well for area farms was located on the former school site. (2005)