Maud Independent School District

Maud, Bowie County, Texas

March 22, 1935
By L. H. Griffin, Research and Manuscript by Fay Brady
"History of Bowie County Schools" by Mrs. R. W. Terrell (Terral)
Researched from the files of the Texarkana Gazette
Printed by County Superintendent Office
Revised June, 1999, New Boston Genealogical Society

In the fall of 1882 a group of farmers of the Maud community, with the Rev. H. J. Rachel as chairman, met to organize and locate a school.  It was suggested that a church and school be built together and the people carried out this suggestion by erecting a rough boxboard building.  The crude slab seats were sixteen feet long and the scholars used their knees for a desk.  Since the school was situated on the highest point of the county, it was called Center Ridge.

The first session opened with about 15 pupils.  A Mr. Dean from Virginia was employed as instructor with a salary of $30 per month.  Pupils had no accommodations then to with those of the present day.  In those good old days the pupils even cut the wood and school always began at sunrise and lasted until sunset.  The teacher did not spare the rod, but he certainly saved the child.  There were no grades; when a pupil finished one book he was handed another and so on.  From this old building, the following outstanding men received their training:  Fire Chief Springer of Texarkana, Arkansas, the late Dr. C. P. Helms, banker and financier, New Boston, Texas, Dr. W. L. Helms, Taylor Hospital, Taylor, Texas, C. A. Bonham, former Bowie County School Superintendent, Captain Herbert Jackson, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Rev. J. C. Morgan, editor and publisher, Kileen, Texas and the late Robert Bearden, real estate, San Antonio, Texas.  In 1895, the late Henry Ray, member of the school board, saw fit to buy new equipment.

The pupils were so proud of their new desks that they would not allow any dust to stay on them.

In 1900, the present town of Maud sprang up.  The location of the school became a handicap to the scholars who lived in town, so a group met to discuss plans for moving the school.  A large room was built at Maud, another teacher was employed, and the enrollment increased to 75.  In 1905 the county school board laid out and approved the Maud School District.

In 1919, the school added another room, a second story was also added to be used by the Masonic Lodge and the Woodman Lodge.  May 4,  1914 a cyclone partly destroyed the town, but fortunately the school was not damage.

In 1917, the people of Maud saw the need for a modern brick building and voted a $5,000 bond issue, which carried by a large majority.  With these funds the school board bought ten acres of land one half mile from town on Highway 8 and immediately began the erection of a building.  They had only enough money to build the first floor and as a result of this condition, the school term was cut short.  In 1922, an additional $8,400 bond issued was voted to complete the building and with private donations of $3,000 added to the sum.  This work was completed in the fall of that year.  In 1930, the school board extended the school term from eight months to nine months.

In 1933, applications for classification and affiliation was made and in the same year, classification for a three year high school and ten units of affiliation were granted.  The following subjects were affiliated:  Mathematics I, II, III, History I, II, III, Spanish I, II, and later English III, and General Science.

In the fall of 1934, additional bond issue was voted for the purpose of adding three rooms and a basement to the building.  The curriculum was broadened in 1935 by the addition of vocational home economics and vocational agriculture.

From a feeble beginning in 1882 with one teacher and 15 children in a single room, the Maud school developed into an affiliated high school with 10 teachers, 400 scholastics housed in a modern building.  This district has an area of 22.2 square miles, valuation of $206,092 and a tax rate of $1.00.  The present faculty of the school is F. E. Cooley, J. H. Mason, principal, Mrs. Elizabeth Mason, Rachel Richardson, Mr. Ruth Fomby, Mrs. H. D. Phillips, Mrs. Idyl Ashford, Velma Stout, Mildred McElwee, Vocational Home Economics, H. J. Tyson, Vocational Agriculture.