Spring Creek School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Spring Creek School in Hutchinson County. Now settle in, because this one starts before the county itself even had its act together. The year is 1900.

Hutchinson County hasn't been formally organized yet, not for another year. And yet, out on the Harvey Ranch near Spring Creek, something is already taking shape. W.

B. Haile and a handful of area ranchers passed the hat, collected funds, bought the materials, and built themselves a schoolhouse. Thirteen students walked through that door.

Mrs. L. S.

Ford stood at the front of the room and taught them through a sixty-day school year. Sixty days. Short by some measures, but it was a start, and out here on the Texas Panhandle, a start is everything.

Then 1901 arrives, the county gets itself organized, and the Hutchinson County commissioners court divides the county into four school districts. Spring Creek draws the name district number four. And who ends up as superintendent of county education by 1903?

W. B. Haile.

The same man who helped build the thing is now helping run the whole show across the county. As the years rolled on and the population shifted around, that first little schoolhouse couldn't stay put. It moved to the Haile Ranch.

Then it moved again to the Terry Ranch. And eventually, it just plain ran out of room. Too many students, not enough building.

A second schoolhouse replaced it sometime before 1930. That second building burned in 1932. But it was rebuilt.

Because that is what you do. The next building, a red brick structure, was completed in 1938, and this one arrived with real ambition: six classrooms, a gymnasium-auditorium, and a library. In 1949, the White Deer Creek School District consolidated with Spring Creek, adding to the community it served.

And at the turn of the twenty-first century, Spring Creek School still stood as an independent school district, serving this rural stretch of Hutchinson County. Strong educational programs, strong extra-curricular programs, administrators keeping it all going across the school's long history. It started with thirteen kids and sixty days.

That's not a small thing. That's the whole story in miniature.

What the marker says

Established in 1900, a year before Hutchinson County was formally organized, the Spring Creek School is an early and significant part of the county's educational heritage. In that year, W. B. Haile and other area ranchers collected funds to buy materials to build the first schoolhouse. Located on the Harvey Ranch near Spring Creek, the schoolhouse served 13 students, taught by Mrs. L. S. Ford that first, 60-day school year. In 1901, the Hutchinson County commissioners court divided the county into four school districts, Spring Creek being named district #4. At that time, schools were under the supervision of a superintendent of county education, who by 1903 was W. B. Haile. When the area's population shifted, the first schoolhouse was moved to Haile Ranch and later to the Terry Ranch before becoming too small for the number of students enrolled. It was replaced sometime before 1930; this second building burned in 1932 but was rebuilt. The next building, a red brick structure, was completed in 1938 and offered the students and teachers six classrooms, a gymnasium-auditorium and a library. In 1949, the White Deer Creek School District consolidated with Spring Creek. At the turn of the 21st century, the Spring Creek School retained its status as an independent school district, serving this rural part of Hutchinson County. Administrators have directed strong educational and extra-curricular programs throughout the school's history. (2001)