DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official Van School marker has to say — and friend, this is one of those stories where the ground itself changes everything. It starts in 1929. The discovery of the Van oil field.
Now, when oil comes to a Texas town, it doesn't knock politely — it arrives all at once, and one of the first things it brings with it is children. School-aged children, by the hundreds, pouring into a community that had been getting along just fine with a five-room rural school. Five rooms.
Then 1929 hits. The 1929-1930 school year kicked off with 90 pupils. Ninety.
You could know every kid by name before Thanksgiving. But when the 1930-1931 school year opened its doors? Six hundred and eleven students walked in.
Let that settle for a moment. Ninety to six hundred and eleven. In one year.
Now, this is the same era when other Texas schools were cutting budgets because the Depression had its boot on the neck of just about everything. And then World War II came along to squeeze what was left. But Van?
Van had oil revenues. And with Superintendent Jesse E. Rhodes and Principal C.C.
Moore leading the schools, they didn't cut — they built. In the summer of 1930, they put up a gymnasium, which they used right away as a temporary high school because they needed space and they needed it now. Local voters approved a bond, and by spring of 1931, construction had begun on brand-new Van schools.
By the time the 1931-1932 school year started, there was a brick elementary school and a brick high school, both ready for students. That old gymnasium got to go back to being a gymnasium. And it wasn't just buildings.
A teachers' home was constructed in 1930 — built specifically to entice the best available teachers to come work in the district. You want quality, you have to make it worth somebody's while. The Pure Oil Company stepped in too.
They let the school tap into their water lines free of charge. They allowed the school to heat its buildings with gas from the gasoline plant. And they donated twelve thousand five hundred dollars to the school district to help with expansion costs.
That is a partner showing up. The 1931-1932 term also saw the start of a transportation program — three buses purchased to get those hundreds of kids where they needed to be. An athletic park was completed in spring of 1933.
A physical education and vocational building went up in 1937. And then — even as World War II was grinding on — a second major building program kept right on going. It was completed in 1947.
From 90 students and five rooms to a full, modern campus that didn't stop growing for nearly two decades. Most towns were holding on. Van was building.
Because when the oil came up out of that ground, they put it straight back into their children.
What the marker says
The discovery of the Van oil field in 1929 brought about many changes within the community, including an influx of school-aged children that required the transition from a five-room rural school to a large, ultra-modern school campus. While other Texas schools were forced to make budget cuts because of the depression and later World War II, oil revenues enabled the Van schools, led by Supt. Jesse E. Rhodes and Principal C.C. Moore, to expand rapidly. The 1929-1930 school year had begun with 90 pupils, but the start of the 1930-1931 brought 611 students. In the summer of 1930 a gymnasium was built and was originally used as a temporary high school. After the approval of a bond by local voters, construction began on new Van schools in spring 1931. By the start of the 1931-1932 school year, a brick elementary school and a brick high school were ready for use. The temporary high school was converted back to a gymnasium after the completion of the permanent high school. The Pure Oil Company allowed the school to tap into its water lines free of charge, allowed the school to heat its buildings with gas from the gasoline plant, and also donated $12,500 to the school district to help with expansion costs. A teachers’ home was constructed in 1930 and was meant to entice the best available teachers to work within the district. A transportation program began during the 1931-1932 term with the purchase of three buses. An athletic park was completed in spring 1933 and a physical education-vocational building was erected in 1937. A second major building program that continued even during World War II was completed in 1947.