The Looney School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Looney School up in Upshur County. Now, the year is somewhere between 1860 and 1870, and the place is Gilmer, Texas. A man by the name of Morgan H.

Looney has himself a school. Not just any school, mind you. This one had a reputation that stretched clean across East Texas, drawing in boarding pupils from all over the region.

High academic standards, the marker says. That phrase doesn't get thrown around lightly. People sent their children to Looney's school because they meant for those children to become somebody.

The site itself sat four blocks to the north of where that marker stands today. Picture the place: boys and girls coming in through separate entrances, settling into separate study halls, each one overseen by a teacher up on a platform. That platform detail says something.

Whoever stood up there had authority, and they intended you to know it. Once a month, a social was held. One evening a month to be human, and then back to the work of becoming great.

And great is exactly what happened. O. M.

Roberts, a teacher at that school, went on to become governor of Texas and chief justice of the state Supreme Court. Three girls who passed through those doors married governors. Three.

Charles Culberson, one of many students at the Looney School, went on to become governor and a United States Senator. The marker puts it plainly: people there achieved fame later. Morgan H.

Looney built something in Gilmer, something with separate entrances and a teacher on a platform and one social a month, and it turned out to be one of the most consequential rooms in East Texas history.

What the marker says

During the years of 1860-70 in Gilmer, Morgan H. Looney had a school widely known for high academic standards, attracting many East Texas boarding pupils. Site was 4 blocks to the north. Boys and girls had separate entrances, separate study halls kept by teacher on a platform. Socials were held once a month. People there achieved fame later. O. M. Roberts, a teacher, was governor, Supreme Court chief justice. 3 girls married governors. Charles Culberson, later governor and U. S. Senator, was one of many students who made great achievements.