Young School House and Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Young School House and Cemetery in Bastrop County. Now settle in, because this is the kind of story that starts with a simple gift and grows into something a whole community wraps itself around for over a hundred years. In 1872, a pioneer named John P.

Young, born in 1829, did what generous men sometimes do. He looked at two acres of his land and decided his neighbors needed it more than he did. He donated those two acres for a community school and a cemetery.

Two things that, when you think about it, mark the full sweep of a life. One for the living, one for those who have passed on. Community leaders didn't waste any time.

Shortly after that donation, they opened a five-month term school and named it in honor of John Young. And with the help of a carpenter named Samuel D. Sanford, that schoolhouse went up right there in 1872, built of hand-hewn pine logs.

Now, hand-hewn. That means somebody took an axe to those trees themselves. This was not a building that came easy.

Out in the cemetery, the earliest marked grave belongs to W. T. Sanders, dated 1874.

Since then, the ground has held area settlers and their descendants, generation after generation. Young School kept its doors open, kept those pine log walls ringing with lessons, until 1907. That's when the rail line came through, laid through the Upton community about three miles to the north, and a larger school was established there.

Young School closed. But here is where the story takes a turn that a lot of buildings never get to take. The schoolhouse didn't fall quiet and fade.

It became a community center. Worship services for several area congregations found a home inside those same walls. And Young School House Baptist Church, whose roots reach back to 1910, continues to worship at that site to this day.

The building has even been moved twice, making room for more cemetery plots as the community kept growing, kept needing that ground. John Young died in 1906, just one year before the school that bore his name closed its doors as a schoolhouse. But the marker says it plainly: much of the history of this part of Bastrop County revolves around Young School House and Cemetery, each of which has been in use for more than a hundred years.

Two acres. One man's gift. Still holding.

What the marker says

In 1872, area pioneer John P. Young (1829-1906) donated two acres of his land for a community school and cemetery. The earliest marked grave, that of W. T. Sanders, is dated 1874. Since then, the cemetery has been used primarily by area settlers and their descendants. Shortly after the land was donated, community leaders opened a five-month term school, which was named in honor of John Young. With the help of carpenter Samuel D. Sanford, this schoolhouse was constructed in 1872 of hand-hewn pine logs. Young School closed in 1907 when the rail line was laid through the Upton community (3 mi. N.), and a larger school was established there. Although no longer in use as a schoolhouse, the building has been maintained as a community center and has been the site of worship services for several area congregations. Young School House Baptist Church, whose roots date to 1910, continues to worship at the site. The building has been moved twice to make room for more cemetery plots. Much of the history of this part of Bastrop County revolves around Young School House and Cemetery, each of which has been in use for more than 100 years.