Site of Leatherwood School

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker for this one, so let me walk you through what it says. Now, out here in Crosby County, most things start with somebody putting down roots and deciding to stay. In 1898, that somebody was the family and relatives of M.

G. Leatherwood, and they settled this area when it wasn't much of anything yet. Just land, sky, and the kind of quiet that makes you think real hard about your neighbors, or the lack of them.

Other families started arriving, the way families do, and pretty soon there was a need that couldn't be ignored: a nearby school. So in 1912, the Leatherwood Common School District was created. That's the kind of name that tells you exactly whose idea the whole thing was.

The first classes were held in the spring of 1913. One room. A schoolhouse built on land donated by M.

G. Leatherwood himself. And the man tasked with taming that first group of students was a teacher by the name of Ellsworth Ham.

You don't forget a name like that. Now, the school didn't stay put. The location was changed twice before it finally settled at this very site, on the eastern edge of the county.

And for a while, it grew. At its peak, Leatherwood School had three teachers working in a three-room schoolhouse, teaching thirty-six students. That's not a small thing in country this wide and this sparse.

In 1935, the Zumalt School District consolidated with Leatherwood, which is the kind of event that sounds like progress but usually means someone, somewhere, is holdin' on a little tighter. By 1945, only elementary students were being taught here. And in 1949, the final classes were held, and the area was made part of the Crosbyton School District.

Just like that, the Leatherwood School was done. But here's the thing the marker wants you to sit with. Leatherwood wasn't unusual.

It was typical, they say, of many early Texas rural schools. Its story rose and fell with the people around it. As farm populations decreased, as roads improved, as the cities became more accessible, schools like this one closed, one by one, across the state.

The buildings go quiet. The names fade off the maps. But their histories, the marker says, play an important part in the heritage of public education in Texas.

And that right there is worth stopping for, even if you're just passing through.

What the marker says

This area of Crosby County was settled in 1898 by the family and relatives of M. G. Leatherwood. As other families began to arrive, the need for a nearby school became apparent. As a result, the Leatherwood Common School District was created in 1912. The first classes, held in the spring of 1913 in a one-room schoolhouse on land donated by M. G. Leatherwood, were taught by Ellsworth Ham. The location of the school was changed twice before it was moved to this site at the eastern edge of the county. At the height of its growth, Leatherwood School employed three teachers who taught 36 students in a three-room schoolhouse. In 1935 the Zumalt School District consolidated with Leatherwood, but by 1945 only elementary students were being taught here. The final classes at Leatherwood were held in 1949, when the area was made part of the Crosbyton School District. Leatherwood was typical of many early Texas rural schools in that its longevity was influenced by the migration from farms to the city. Although rural schools were closed as farm populations decreased and improved roads and transportation made the cities more accessible, their histories play an important part in the heritage of public education in Texas. (1983)