Wheeler School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, every good Texas story needs somebody who shows up and just starts building things — and William J. Wheeler, a man folks called Uncle Billy, was that kind of somebody.

He came out of Kentucky, made his way down to this corner of Texas not long after the Civil War ended, and then proceeded to leave his mark on the land in ways that outlasted him by generations. In 1870, Uncle Billy deeded land to the Houston and Texas Central Railway — land that became the townsite of Richardson, and right-of-way for the railroad to run its iron through. That's not a small thing to do.

That's shaping the future with a pen stroke. Then, a decade later, in 1880, he did it again — this time providing a public school just northwest of this very site, so the children of the Richardson area had somewhere to go and learn. Uncle Billy Wheeler was not a man who sat still.

Now, the original Wheeler Schoolhouse stood its ground for twenty years before fire took it in 1900. And when it burned, the community didn't scatter — they built. A new structure rose right here on this site: two stories, four rooms, brand new, and by that time the Richardson Independent School District had been created to go along with it.

That right there is a town growing up. But the story doesn't stop there, because Texas rarely lets a good story stop. In 1914, the frame schoolhouse came down and up went something built to last — a two-story, red brick structure with eight rooms and five teachers walking those halls.

Stone and mortar and chalk dust. Then came 1927, and the enrollment swelled when the Richardson and Addison High schools consolidated, so two wings were added to hold all those young minds. The 1930s brought further consolidation of the surrounding common school districts, and then the 1950s hit with a population boom that pushed enrollment higher still and sent folks scrambling to build other facilities.

The red brick schoolhouse shifted gears — serving only elementary grades from 1952 until 1960, when it became the district administration building. From a Kentuckian's land deed to a railroad town to a schoolhouse that kept rebuilding itself every time the community outgrew it — Uncle Billy Wheeler set something in motion here that Texas just kept running with.

What the marker says

Kentuckian William J. (Uncle Billy) Wheeler came to this part of Texas soon after the end of the Civil War. In 1870 he deeded land to the Houston and Texas Central Railway for the townsite that became the city of Richardson and for the railroad right-of-way. In 1880 Wheeler provided a public school just northwest of this site for Richardson area children. After the Wheeler Schoolhouse burned in 1900, classes moved into a new, two-story, four-room, structure on this site. By this time the Richardson Independent School District had been created. In 1914 the frame schoolhouse was replaced with a two-story, red brick structure. The eight-room schoolhouse was staffed by five teachers. In 1927 two wings were added to house the increased enrollment brought about by the consolidation of the Richardson and Addison High schools. Further consolidation of surrounding common school districts in the 1930s and a population boom in the 1950s expanded school enrollment and created the need for other facilities. The red brick schoolhouse served only elementary grades from 1952 until 1960, when it began to serve as the district administration building. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986