Slaughter School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of the official marker for Slaughter School, straight out of Van Zandt County, Texas. Now, out along the old Dallas-Shreveport Road, back in the late nineteenth century, folks were putting down roots faster than you could count them. And where people settle, children follow, and where children follow, somebody eventually has to teach them something.

That was the situation taking shape in this corner of Van Zandt County. The road was busy, the population was growing, and the need for a school was making itself plain. We know Slaughter School existed by 1883, though back then it sat at a different location entirely.

Then came 1888, and a woman named Elizabeth Slaughter conveyed one acre of land, two and a half miles southwest of Edgewood, over to three trustees: James P. Rainey, G.R. Pope, and W.D.

Whitfield. That acre was meant for one purpose: the construction of Slaughter School. They built it, and it didn't take long before other folks wanted in.

By 1891, the Edgewood School was sharing that same building, and when you counted every student under that roof, you had forty-six of them. Forty-six young minds in one schoolhouse on one donated acre. At some later date, the exact timing of which history has not preserved for us, Slaughter School was consolidated with the Edgewood District.

Its run was short. But short doesn't mean small. That school served as an important educational institution during every year it stood, and out here on the old road between Dallas and Shreveport, that counts for something.

What the marker says

POPULATION GROWTH ALONG THE DALLAS-SHREVEPORT ROAD DURING THE LATE 19TH CENTURY BROUGHT ABOUT THE NEED FOR A SCHOOL IN THIS PORTION OF VAN ZANDT COUNTY. ALTHOUGH IT IS KNOWN THAT SLAUGHTER SCHOOL EXISTED BY 1883 AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION, IN 1888, ELIZABETH SLAUGHTER CONVEYED A ONE ACRE SITE 2.5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF EDGEWOOD TO TRUSTEES JAMES P. RAINEY, G.R. POPE AND W.D. WHITFIELD FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF SLAUGHTER SCHOOL. BY 1891, THE EDGEWOOD SCHOOL SHARED THE BUILDING AND THE TOTAL ENROLLMENT WAS 46 STUDENTS. AT A LATER UNKNOWN DATE, THE SLAUGHTER SCHOOL WAS CONSOLIDATED WITH THE EDGEWOOD DISTRICT. SLAUGHTER SCHOOL SERVED AS AN IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION DURING ITS SHORT EXISTENCE.