Site of Oak Grove School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Lavaca County, there's a spot where a school once stood, and the story goes back, way back, to a grove of post oak trees. According to local tradition, Oak Grove School was established as early as 1882, and those trees, those post oaks growing near the original one-room building, gave the place its name.

Now that's local tradition talking, mind you. The first time anyone put pen to paper about it in any official way was 1894, when August and Ernestine Wenske, the folks who owned the land, executed a deed. That deed included information on the sale of land for school purposes.

So the Wenskes made it possible, right there in black and white. The school probably offered instruction from primary through eighth grade, which in a one-room building, you can imagine, was no small undertaking. Then came growth.

In the early nineteen hundreds, that modest little building was enlarged into an L-shaped structure. By 1909, Oak Grove School added another teacher to its faculty. Progress, slow and steady.

A brand new three-room schoolhouse went up in 1928, and by 1937 the faculty had grown to three persons. The Public Works Administration, the PWA, even came through and upgraded the main road to the school between 1938 and 1942. The community kept things going with fund-raising activities, sponsoring them time and again to support what they'd built together.

And Oak Grove kept reaching. By the mid-1940s, the curriculum had advanced all the way to the tenth grade. A one-room building to a ten-grade school.

That's something. But here's where the road bends. After the 1959 to 1960 term, following a merger with the Moulton Independent School District, Oak Grove School closed its doors.

Those post oaks are still out there, probably, roots going deep. The school they once sheltered is gone, but Lavaca County remembers.

What the marker says

According to local tradition, Oak Grove School was established as early as 1882 and named for a grove of post oak trees located near the school's original one-room building. The school, which probably offered primary through eighth grade instruction, stood on property owned by August and Ernestine Wenske. The first recorded documentation concerning the Oak Grove School is included in a deed executed by the Wenskes in 1894 containing information on the sale of land for school purposes. The school building was enlarged in the early 1900s into an L-shaped structure and in 1909 Oak Grove School added another teacher to its faculty. A new three-room schoolhouse was built in 1928 and by 1937 Oak Grove had increased its faculty to three persons. The main road to the school was upgraded by the Public Work Administration (PWA) between the years 1938 and 1942. The community supported the school by sponsoring numerous fund-raising activities. Although Oak Grove School had advanced its curriculum to the tenth grade by the mid 1940s, it nevertheless closed its doors after the 1959-1960 term following its merger with the Moulton Independent School District.