Site of Swann Hill School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, somewhere around 1900, a man named John Henry Swann made a decision. He deeded this land, right here, for one purpose and one purpose only: educational purposes.

See, the children in this part of Comanche County had been making that trek up to Little Valley, three miles north, just to get to school. Swann figured that was far enough. So he put the land forward, and folks responded.

The Little Valley School didn't just close, it picked itself up. Literally. That building was relocated right here to this spot.

And what rose up in its place was Swann Hill School. At its peak, this place was humming. Ten grades of instruction.

More than a hundred students coming through those doors. For a little rural schoolhouse, that is nothing to whisper about. But here's the thing about schools like this one.

They live and breathe by the needs of the communities around them. Come 1929, Swann Hill was consolidated with the Pettit School, two miles west of here. And just like the Little Valley building had done years before, the Swann Hill schoolhouse got up and moved again, relocated to enlarge that institution over at Pettit.

It's a short story as stories go. The marker says so itself: operating only briefly. But the marker also says this place was typical of early rural schools of the period.

And maybe that's the real point. John Henry Swann deeded this land so children wouldn't have to travel so far, and for a good stretch of years, they didn't. Sometimes that's exactly enough.

What the marker says

John Henry Swann deeded this land about 1900 for educational purposes so that area children would not have to travel to Little Valley (3 mi. N) to school. In response, the Little Valley School closed and its building was relocated here. At its peak, Swann Hill offered ten grades of instruction to more than 100 students. In 1929, it was consolidated with the Pettit School (2 mi. W), and the schoolhouse was relocated again to enlarge that institution. Though operating only briefly, Swann Hill School was typical of early rural schools of the period. (1992)