DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, Rocksprings was a new town, brand new, when the winter of 1891 rolled in. And somebody looked around and said, we've got children here, and children need schoolin'.
So what did they do? They held that first school session in a frame house, of all things, surrounded by a strong rock wall. Not a proper schoolhouse, mind you; a frame house with a rock wall around it.
That was Rocksprings' very first school building. Two teachers stepped up to run the whole operation: a Mr. Cole and a Mr.
Vaughn. Now Mr. Vaughn had something most schools would've paid good money for.
He had a voice. A strong voice. Strong enough that they didn't bother with a bell to call students to their books.
Mr. Vaughn just opened up and hollered, and I imagine the hills heard him just fine. The children came from all corners of that young town: from the families of Abner Benton, a Mr.
Buswell, John Campbell, Charlie Cooper, Julian Gill, West Hill, O. W. Holmes, George Maul, J.
R. Sanford, Reuben Stewart, J. R.
Sweeten, and Ira Wheat. Twelve families' worth of futures, sitting in a frame house in the Texas winter, with a rock wall outside and a loud teacher inside. That little school didn't stay small for long.
It gave way to the Gem City Academy, and by that academy's second term, a hundred and eleven students were walking through the door. From a single frame house to a hundred and eleven strong. That's not a bad start for a new town.
What the marker says
First school session in new town of Rocksprings was held in a frame house surrounded by a strong rock wall, in winter of 1891-92. Teachers were a Mr. Cole and a Mr. Vaughn (whose strong voice served instead of a bell to call "Books"). Pupils came from families of Abner Benton, a Mr. Buswell, John Campbell, Charlie Cooper, Julian Gill, West Hill, O. W. Holmes, George Maul, J. R. Sanford, Reuben Stewart, J. R. Sweeten, and Ira Wheat. This school was succeeded by the Gem City Academy, which had 111 students in its second term. (1972)