Site of Valley View School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place. Now, you might drive past this spot in Mitchell County and not give it a second glance, but pull over for just a minute, because in 1905, nine men from the Lone Wolf Valley got together and decided they were going to do something. They adopted plans for a community school.

Just like that. No hand-wringing, no waiting on somebody else. Nine men, a plan, and a valley that needed educating.

The name Valley View came from a fellow named S.H. Hart, and with a name like that, you'd expect a certain confidence in what they were building. And they did not disappoint.

Now, for your first teacher, you might picture some weathered schoolmaster, boots dusty from years on the road. What you got instead was Aury Williams, eighteen years old, stepping up to direct the whole operation from the very start. Eighteen.

First teacher. That's the kind of detail that ought to stop you cold. And somebody had to build the thing.

Edmond Seymour donated the land right here at this site, and then the community rolled up its sleeves. W.D. McCarley, T.J.

Coffee, A.J. Compton, J.B. Cranfill, J.H.T.

Johnson, Billie Seymour, and Willie Seymour, they constructed that one-room schoolhouse board by board. Seven names on that building crew. Seven neighbors building something that would outlast most of what any of them ever touched.

And it wasn't just a school. That same building served as a community center, which means it held lessons and laughter and probably more than a few serious conversations about what this valley was going to become. Valley View School kept serving the surrounding rural area all the way through, year after year, until 1942, when it was consolidated with the Loraine District.

The schoolhouse is gone now, but those nine men from the Lone Wolf Valley, that eighteen-year-old teacher, those seven builders, they gave this ground something worth remembering.

What the marker says

In 1905 nine men from the Lone Wolf Valley adopted plans for a community school. Named Valley View by S.H. Hart, it began under the direction of eighteen-year-old Aury Williams, the first teacher. Edmond Seymour donated land at this site for a one-room schoolhouse, constructed by W.D. McCarley, T.J. Coffee, A.J. Compton, J.B. Cranfill, J.H.T. Johnson, Billie Seymour and Willie Seymour. The building was also used as a community center. The Valley View School continued to serve the surrounding rural area until 1942, when it was consolidated with the Loraine District. (1982)