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The
Willow City School District #804 was in the northeastern part of Gillespie
County, with its northern border extending to the Llano County line.
English speaking settlers of the Old South and of Scotch Irish descent,
together with a sprinkling of German settlers, became the backbone of
the community. In addition to the more substantial settlers
of Willow City, a great deal of riffraff used the town as a "hangout"
at the turn of the century. Drawing a knife in a fight between school
youngsters was quite a common offense. There was also a report of
teachers wrangling with a school boy to take a six shooter away from him.
The first school was a one room log cabin. R.C.
Roberts, who came to the community in 1876, described the schoolhouse
as "a one-room log cabin, no longer new". It had split
log benches and no floor. This cabin also served as a church.
A two story frame schoolhouse was constructed in 1890 on higher ground,
after severe flooding. This building had two classrooms downstairs
and one large classroom upstairs with an outside stairway. A bell
tower summoned the students to class.
It was early in 1905, when the Willow City District
became independent, that it was decided to build a new school. J.W.
Lindeman and J. C. Hardin each donated a plot of ground and after a bond
issue, the new school became a reality. The granite, two story building
was built, and consisted of rooms on the first floor and one room on the
second. This second floor room served as an auditorium, as well
as classroom, during the years when there were three teachers. This
room also had a stage. Improvements were made to the building in
1915, in order to obtain state aid. Ventilators were added, a partition
was made on the first floor to create an entrance hallway and black board
space was added. The school had no water supply until 1920, when
a well was drilled. Up until that time, students brought their own
water from home, or a resident living close to school supplied water.
Classes were taught at this school through grade nine and three teachers
were employed until 1957. Willow City Independent School District
was consolidated with Fredericksburg in 1961.
The Willow City Community Club was formed in 1961.
The club meets on the first Friday of each month to play Texas "42".
The building is also used for many other community and private
activities.
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