The Amanda Burks School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Amanda Burks School, out in La Salle County. Now settle in, because this one's about a woman who outlasted just about everything the brush country could throw at her. Amanda Nite Burks was born in 1841, and she and her husband William Franklin Burks moved their ranching operation down to what is now La Salle County in 1876.

One year. That's all the time they had together out there before William Franklin Burks died in 1877. And here is where the story takes its turn.

Amanda didn't fold. She didn't sell. She stayed, and she ran that ranch for over fifty years after her husband's death.

Over fifty years. Out in the South Texas brush, where the sun is relentless and the country does not apologize for itself. Now, Amanda believed in education.

The marker is clear on that point, and so we should be too. She wasn't alone in that belief, lots of early residents of the area felt the same way, but Amanda's name is the one that endured. When the town of Cotulla was founded in 1882, a frame building was already serving the educational needs of the community soon after.

Time moved on, and in 1909 a two-story brick structure was built. Then, shortly before Amanda Burks died in 1931, that school was renamed in her honor. She was born in 1841.

She lived to see her name on a schoolhouse. And the story didn't even stop there. A new Amanda Burks School was built in 1953, because some names, once earned, just keep going.

What the marker says

Amanda (Nite) Burks (1841-1931) and her husband William Franklin Burks (d. 1877) moved their ranching operation to present-day La Salle County in 1876. After her husband's death, Amanda continued to run the ranch for over fifty years. Like many early residents of the area, Amanda believed in the importance of education. A frame building served the educational needs of Cotulla soon after the town was founded in 1882. A two-story brick structure was built in 1909. It was renamed in honor of Amanda Burks shortly before her death in 1931. A new Amanda Burks School was built in 1953.