Southside School

Duane's take

The marker in front of us tells this one — and it's worth hearing in full. Now, San Marcos, Texas. First half of the twentieth century.

Like most communities across the United States at the time, San Marcos kept its school facilities segregated. And the story of one particular building tracks that whole troubled, complicated arc — from exclusion, to protest, to something that eventually looked a lot more like promise. Here's where it starts.

In 1901, Mexican-American children were first taught in a school building that had previously been used by the community's African-American students. One group of children handed off to the spaces another group had been pushed out of. Thirty years passed, and students were educated in several structures scattered around San Marcos — no permanent home, no single place to call their own.

Then came the summer of 1948. The city approved a bond to build a brand-new facility for Mexican-American children. You might think the community would celebrate.

But that same summer, members of the Mexican-American community did something that took real courage — they petitioned the board of trustees to integrate the public schools instead. Their argument was clear-eyed: a new building built just for them would not solve the problem. It would cement it.

It would perpetuate segregation in brick and mortar. The board heard them. And built the school anyway.

Southside School was completed in 1949. Designed by Harvey P. Smith of San Antonio and built by J.M.

Odom Construction Company, the building went up in vertical cell clay tile with a stucco-like appearance — seven classrooms, solid and permanent, standing right there in San Marcos as a monument to a protest that didn't stop the construction but, as it turns out, didn't stop the community either. Because here's the thing about Southside School. Over time, it became something more than the symbol of separation its critics feared.

That seven-classroom building eventually housed programs designed to give all children — all children — opportunities for success, regardless of their heritage, their economic status, their home language, or their disability. It offered adult education classes at night, including an English language course. The building that was built over a community's objection became a place that served that community in ways nobody may have fully imagined in 1948.

In 1965, the school's name was changed to Bonham. And the very next year, it became one of the first schools in Texas to offer a bilingual education program for students — regardless of race. One of the first in the whole state.

The decades kept turning. In the 1980s, Bonham School shifted its focus to exclusively educating pre-school aged children. In the 1990s, it adopted a program for children with disabilities.

And since 2009, that same building — the one born out of protest, shaped by persistence, and worn smooth by generations of children — has housed the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos. A community tried to change the course of that building's story before it was even built. They didn't win that fight in 1948.

But stand back far enough, look at the whole long arc — and you might decide they won something after all.

What the marker says

During the first half of the 20th century, San Marcos, like most communities across the United States, segregated its school facilities. Mexican-American children were first taught in a school building previously used by the community's African-American students in 1901. During the next thirty years, students were educated in several structures around San Marcos. In the summer of 1948, the city approved a bond that would build a new facility for Mexican-American children. That same summer, members of the Mexican American community petitioned the board of trustees to integrate public schools, believing the new school building would perpetuate segregation. In spite of this protest, Southside School was completed in 1949. Designed by Harvey P. Smith of San Antonio, and built by J.M. Odom Construction Company, the school was built of vertical cell clay tile with a stucco-like appearance. The seven-classroom school not only educated students, it eventually housed programs designed to provide all children with opportunities for success regardless of their heritage, economic status, home language, or disability. The school also provided adult education classes at night, including an English language course. In 1965, the school's name was changed to Bonham. The following year, it became one of the first schools in Texas to offer a bilingual education program for students, regardless of race. In the 1980s, Bonham School began to educate exclusively for pre-school aged children and adopted a program for children with disabilities in the 1990s. Since 2009, the building has housed the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos community organization. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2011