Stacy School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Now, Lavaca County, Texas, near the turn of the twentieth century, was seeing something remarkable. Large numbers of German and Czech immigrants were settling in, bringing their families, their work ethic, and a whole lot of children.

The county had to move fast, and it did, creating numerous rural school districts just to keep up with the influx. But before any of that, back in the 1880s, there was already a small, private school out there doing the work. They called it the Stacy School, and it was educating the children of Lavaca County's early pioneers.

A prominent local landowner by the name of J. B. Stacy had reserved land for that original school site, and both that little private school and everything that came after carried his name.

Then in 1895, the Lavaca County Commissioners Court made it official. They created Stacy School District Number 22, and they kept the name, the marker tells us, because of the close proximity to that original rural schoolhouse. The name had earned its place.

The 1895 school building was a two-room wood frame schoolhouse. Two rooms. And tucked inside was a small stage, for school plays and programs.

Picture that, a stage, out in rural Lavaca County, because these families believed their children deserved more than just reading and arithmetic. Out on the grounds you had a windmill and a cistern for water, outhouses, and sometime between 1912 and 1926, they built a teacher's house right there on the property. The district was growing in other ways too.

In 1900 they acquired additional land from H. Ummelmann, and in 1912 from F. and Anna Koenning. The school was putting down roots, buying ground, expanding its reach.

Now, for the first thirty years, one teacher handled six grades and an average of forty students. One teacher. Forty kids.

Six grades. You'd have to be part schoolmaster, part ringmaster. And speaking of, the students weren't exactly sitting still between lessons.

They were playing baseball, volleyball, marbles, a game called Mumbly Peg, and something called Dare Base. That schoolyard had life in it. Enrollments kept climbing, and eventually the school expanded to eight grades and two teachers.

Things were growing. And then came the war years. During World War II, attendance peaked, fifty-four students in 1943.

That is the high-water mark for Stacy School, fifty-four children in that little wood frame building with its small stage and its windmill out back. But the late 1940s brought a different kind of tide. Rural education was in decline across the county, across the state.

And in 1954, after fifty-eight years of operation as a focal point of rural education in Lavaca County, Stacy School District Number 22 consolidated with the Witting District Number 13. The doors closed. The district was gone.

Today, the teacher's house is the only remaining structure. It was later remodeled, still standing, still there. Everything else, the two-room schoolhouse, the stage, the windmill, the cistern, the games on the playground, fifty-eight years of Lavaca County children growing up, all of it lives now in the memory of a county that built something real out of nothing but land and a landowner willing to set some of it aside.

What the marker says

STACY SCHOOL NEAR THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY, LARGE NUMBERS OF GERMAN AND CZECH IMMIGRANTS SETTLED IN LAVACA COUNTY. TO EDUCATE THE INFLUX OF CHILDREN, THE COUNTY CREATED NUMEROUS RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS. IN THE 1880s, A SMALL, PRIVATE SCHOOL KNOWN AS THE STACY SCHOOL EDUCATED THE CHILDREN OF LAVACA COUNTY EARLY PIONEERS. WHEN THE LAVACA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT CREATED THE NEW STACY SCHOOL DISTRICT #22 IN 1895, THE NAME WAS KEPT BECAUSE OF THE CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE RURAL SCHOOL HOUSE. BOTH SCHOOLS WERE NAMED AFTER PROMINENT LOCAL LANDOWNER, J.B. STACY, WHO HAD RESERVED LAND FOR THE ORIGINAL SCHOOL SITE. THE STACY DISTRICT ACQUIRED ADDITIONAL LAND IN 1900 FROM H. UMMELMANN AND IN 1912 FROM F. AND ANNA KOENNING. THE 1895 STACY SCHOOL BUILDING WAS A TWO-ROOM WOOD FRAME SCHOOL HOUSE WITH A SMALL STAGE FOR SCHOOL PLAYS AND PROGRAMS. THE SCHOOL GROUNDS INCLUDED A WINDMILL AND CISTERN FOR WATER, OUTHOUSES AND A TEACHER'S HOUSE CONSTRUCTED SOMETIME BETWEEN 1912 AND 1926. BASEBALL, VOLLEYBALL, MARBLES, "MUMBLY PEG" AND DARE BASE WERE POPULAR GAMES FOR THE STUDENTS. FOR THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS, THE SCHOOL HAD ONE TEACHER FOR SIX GRADES WITH AN AVERAGE OF FORTY STUDENTS. DUE TO LARGE ENROLLMENTS, THE SCHOOL EXPANDED TO EIGHT GRADES AND TWO TEACHERS. DURING WORLD WAR II, ATTENDANCE PEAKED WITH 54 STUDENTS IN 1943. BY THE LATE 1940s, RURAL EDUCATION WAS IN DECLINE. IN 1954, THE STACY SCHOOL DISTRICT #22 CONSOLIDATED WITH THE WITTING DISTRICT #13, ENDING 58 YEARS OF OPERATION AS A FOCAL POINT OF RURAL EDUCATION IN LAVACA COUNTY. THE TEACHER'S HOUSE WAS LATER REMODELED AND IS THE ONLY REMAINING STRUCTURE. (2012)