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Alpine
High School circa 1910
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Subject:
Alpine School
It was nice
to see the old Grade School in Alpine.
It broke my heart when they demolished the School. I grew up living
with my Aunt Miss Eula Jean Moore (Aunt Jean to every kid in Alpine).
We lived on North 6th Street just across the School Parking Lot
and next door to Johnnie Newel that owned Newel Oil Co. Justice
of the Peace Hally Stillwell lived across the street. Me and my
Brother and Sister would play at the Old School on the fire escape.
There was a chain link bearer around it, but we knew how to get
past it. I went to school at the New Grade School from 1st
to 5th Grades. Mrs. Hill was my first grade teacher. I enjoyed her
class. It was fun.
The bar ditch that separates the New School and the parking area
has two bridges. These started out as two old doors and 2x4
put there by James & Randel Fitzgerald, Bobby Lane Hoffman, Mark,
David & Emily Woodward and myself. We put them there in the summer
of '67 or '68 so as to have a short cut. The next year just before
school started they took out our bridiges and replaced them with
concrete. As far as I know the new bridiges are still there.
The Gymnasium was to the East of the Old School with the
play ground to the South. The gym had a light that hung down in
front of the door. I had a new B-B gun. Sammy Fitsgerald and Jimmy
Hill bet me I could not shootout the light. Not being one to turn
down a challange and a good shot to this day, I shot out the light
at a good distance for a B-B gun. I won and lost in the blink of
an eye. Because as the light broke Jack Johnson Chief of Police
drove by. His wife was a good freind of my Aunt so he knew where
to find me. I lost my B-B gun for a while. I could fill a book with
stories of that time and place. - Yours Truly, Jess Ray, October
12, 2002
The 'very
first' school buildng in Alpine
was a two-story wooden structure that was used for a few years until
the first permanent structure could be built. It was overcrowded
from the start.
The first true school house in Alpine was built in 1891 and
this building is still located across the street north of the Methodist
Church. This building later served as the offices for the U. S.
Border Patrol, and most recently for the last dozen or two years
houses as the Sunshine House.
The picture shown was first called the High School and opened
in 1910. It was completed to replace the small building first mentioned.
In 1929 a new high school was built and this building then became
Central School. I attended this school for my first years of schooling
(1939 - 47), with Junior High (5th - 7th grade) being upstairs.
Some time in the late 1960's to early 1970's the Central building
was completely demolished and a new Grade School was built. Also,
in the late 1970's a new High School was built north of town and
just west of Kokernot Field.
The above information was taken from "Alpine, Texas, then and now",
by Dr. Clifford B. Casey, published in 1981. Plus my own personal
knowledge of the history of Alpine.
- Tommy R. Woodward
Anyone wishing to share information, memories or
photos of Alpine, Texas, please email history@texasescapes.com
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