DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Deep in La Salle County, in the little town of Cotulla, there stands a brick schoolhouse with a story that reaches a good deal further than its walls might suggest. The building was designed by an Austin architect named Charles H.
Page, and when it was completed in 1926, it bore the name of County Judge G. A. Welhausen, who lived from 1862 to 1944.
Page gave it a classically inspired plan — a central block, two low wings flanking it on either side, and decorative tile panels that gave the whole thing a dignity you wouldn't necessarily expect out here in the brush country. A schoolhouse built with intention. Built to mean something.
And as it turned out, it would. In 1928, a twenty-year-old by the name of Lyndon B. Johnson came to Cotulla.
Twenty years old. He took up a post at Welhausen School, serving as both teacher and principal. The school served the city's Hispanic students for many years, and that young man from the Hill Country stood at the front of those classrooms during 1928 and into 1929.
Now, the marker doesn't editorialize about what that experience meant or what came of it. It just states the facts, plain and straight — the architect, the judge, the building, and the young man who showed up. Sometimes that's enough.
Sometimes you let the details do the heavy lifting, and you trust the listener to feel the weight of a twenty-year-old principal in a 1926 brick schoolhouse in Cotulla, Texas. That building is still standing. Still telling.
What the marker says
Designed by Austin architect Charles H. Page, this brick schoolhouse was completed in 1926 and named for County Judge G. A. Welhausen (1862-1944). Twenty-year-old Lyndon B. Johnson came to Cotulla in 1928-29 and served as teacher and principal at the school, which served the city's Hispanic students for many years. Built in a classically inspired plan with a central block flanked by two low wings, the building features decorative tile panels. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990