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A brief history of Grapetown School (#4 on the driving map located on Old San Antonio Road): Built in 1884. Teacherage in 1887. Consolidated in 1949. One of four schools which still has the original teacherage, the house where the teacher lived. This limestone two-room teacherage was built in 1887, and later a frame kitchen, storeroom, and smokehouse was erected. It was used until 1949 when Grapetown School District was consolidated with Rocky Hill School District as part of the rural school consolidation in Texas.
Current activities: In 1950, residents of the Grapetown community formed
the Grapetown Community Club and purchased the
property from the Rocky Hill School District. Currently,
the members gather once a month to enjoy an evening of
“42”, food, and fellowship.
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The Grapetown community began in 1857, when Ferdinand
Doebbler built a stagecoach stop at the crossing of
Immigrant Road and Upper South Grape Creek. As settlers
moved into the community, a need arose for a school. Mr.
Doebbler bought a small stone house from James William
Vance, which he donated as a schoolhouse. After the
Civil War, a log school was built on the Friedrich Baag
property.
On April 1, 1882, Friedrich Baag gave a parcel of land
with the provision that no religious or political
meetings would be conducted at the school. The labor to
build the limestone one-room schoolhouse was donated by
men from the community. Since construction took place
whenever time could be spared, it took 2 1/2
years to complete the building. In 1886, a decision was
made to build a two-room stone teacherage with a porch.
It was completed in 1887. Later, a frame kitchen and
storeroom were added on the north side of the house, and
a stone smokehouse was erected near the house.
School closing picnics or celebrations were always held
in the early days. Activities included a children's
program with skits, drills, plays, songs, and poems, as well as public oral examinations that were very hard and
took a great deal of courage.
In 1904, the boundary lines of the school district were
set by the county for tax purposes, and children from as
far away as Kendall County attended. In 1944, the 11
pupils of Grapetown were transported to the Cain City
School. This continued there until 1949, when the Grapetown
School consolidated with the Rocky Hill School District.
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