piece of Gatesville history finds a corner in the new high school | New

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Tucked away in a warehouse was a piece of Gatesville history: the cornerstone of the original school built in 1914.

Shortly after the school was demolished, the stone was turned over to officials of the Gatesville Independent School District as a pledge. Over a century later, as the school district expanded the high school facilities, this vestige of the past finds its place in the present.

“Incorporating the 1914 Cornerstone was important to us as a district because we wanted to honor our past,” said Barrett Pollard, superintendent of GISD.

The cornerstone can now be seen on a wall opposite the high school auditorium.

When the 1914 high school opened, George W. Harris was the superintendent and he decided to let the 1914 senior class lay the cornerstone of the new building.

Robert W. Brown was president of the senior class and Henry Straw represented the class in an elaborate dedication service on October 9, 1914.

It cost $ 20,745 to build the school, according to a Coryell County ccrapbook by Mildred Mears. A bond had been issued for $ 25,000, and what remained of the school’s construction was used to purchase materials.

Charles Henry Page was the architect in charge and Johnson Construction built the structure.

The architect, Charles Page, was the son of an English immigrant stonemason. The family moved to Texas so the elder Page could work on the construction of the Texas State Capitol building. Charles was 10 years old.

The young stonemason’s son worked for several architects as an apprentice before setting out on his own at 17. He and a brother founded Page Brothers Architects in 1898. They became one of Texas’s leading firms specializing in public projects such as schools and courthouses. .

Today, many structures built by the brothers are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Gatesville school was demolished before it could make the list.

A new high school was built in 1959, with the old school in use until the mid-1960s. In 1974, the old “abandoned school building” gave way to apartments and houses.


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