History of Manda School/Manda Community Center explained in hindsight.

The Manda School is one of the most well known schoolhouses of Austin/Travis County. Manda School has truly stood the test of time by still being in existence for the past 137 years located northeast of Manor, Texas. What was once a school became a community center shortly after. Both the Manda School and Manda Community Center have a unique interesting history that sets it apart from all the other schoolhouses in the area.

There were 32 rural school houses with similarity to the one in Manda at one point in time, but the Manda Schoolhouse is the only one that remains in all of Travis County/Austin. (Minus the Eanes School and Montopolis School.) Manda School is the only remaining two room school house in Travis County in Austin, Texas from the 20th century and 1910s decade.

Every single year the Friends of Manda School hold meetings here at the Manda Community Center. Mainly meetings are about future regards of Manda Community Center and funding for historic preservation toward this building which are held by the Board of Directors for Friends of Manda School. Community functions, social gatherings, programs, and various meetings are still held inside this building. Friends of Manda School plans to keep the Manda School open as the Manda Community Center in Manda, Texas which is near the town of Manor, Texas.

Every single year the Friends of Manda School clean the school building and land property by mowing the grass and terminating insects from hidden corners. Flooring has been resurfaced by volunteers from Friends of Manda School.

The Manda Community Center is a fine example of historic preservation done right. We need to urge commissioners of the Travis County Historic Commission to preserve historic buildings such as the Manda School. With help from both local citizens and volunteers, we can keep and preserve buildings such as this one. To this day, the Manda School operates as the Manda Community Center. The school building now serves as the reminder of the early settlement of Manda, Texas.



Manda School began its cycle as a school and community center in 1880 in the settlement of Manda, Texas. It is very unclear in what exact type of building structure Manda School taught classes in its pupil stages. The school building structure is probably presumed to have been located in a 2-room log cabin. At first the Manda School did not operate as a district school. Manda School operated as a 1-10 school teaching grades 1st through 10th.

In 1888 is when 1st grade through 10th grade was taught at Manda School. Daily enrollment was 10 to 15 students a day. In 1890, 1st grade through 10th grade was taught at Manda School with a daily attendance rate of 20 to 25 students per day. 1890 truly saw an increase in student enrollment. And just by 15 students!

By 1898, the Manda School had operated under New Sweden School District No. 24 and also as Manda School District No. 24. In 1898 is when New Sweden School District hired a teacher named Miss Zena Slaughter to teach grades 1st through 8th at Manda School.

From 1898 to 1901 is when a teacher named Miss Zena Slaughter taught elementary grades 1st and 8th. A teacher named Miss Edna Slaughter taught high school grades 9th through 11th.

The 1898-1899 school semester is when 11th grade was added with Manda School teaching 1st grade through 11th grade. Miss Zena Slaughter taught elementary grades 1st and 8th along with high school grades 9th through 11th whenever the other teacher was unavailable. Later in 1899 is when Miss Edna Slaughter taught elementary grades 1st and 8th. Miss Edna Slaughter is one the schools earlier teachers to have taught at this school. H. C. Albert and J. Carlson were trustees of Manda School during the school year of 1899-1900.


April 24, 1900 is when Miss Zena Slaughter became the teacher in charge of Manda School. She was appointed as a head teacher by school trustee H. C. Albert in 1900. H. C. Albert appointed P. Carlson from Carlson School as another trustee for Manda School on the date of April 27, 1900. J. Carlson and P. Carlson eventually oversaw trustee duties.

In 1901, school trustee H. C. Albert appointed Miss Edna Slaughter as the head teacher for Manda School if anything were to happen to Miss Zena Slaughter. Both Miss Edna Slaughter and Miss Zena Slaughter served as head teachers for the Manda School.

Paul Albert and Otto Larsson were one of the notable pupils who attended Manda School. Paul Albert was a relative of H. C. Albert, a New Sweden School and Manda School trustee.


Citizens from the Manda community urged commissioners from the Travis County Public Schools (Travis County Common School District) to build a new schoolhouse in the Manda community in 1914. Superintendents and commissioners were receptive to their demanding a new school be built.  Commissioners from the Travis County Public Schools agreed to allocate funding construction of a schoolhouse in Manda, Texas. 


The Manda School was built as the New Sweden School in 1915 to serve students in New Sweden School District #22. Exact first school year that the Manda School operated on was the 1914-1915 school semester at the zenith peak of 1915. Though the school did fully start operating until 1916, students from Manor and the nearby surrounding communities attended. Manda School operated possibly in a 2-room log cabin until sometime during the 1915-1916 school year. Exact dates are unclear.

By 1915, the Manda community voted on a one issue to construct a new school building that was during the spring of that year. Construction for the Manda School building lasted from the summer to the fall of 1915. Although the construction for the Manda School building mostly operated during the summer, it continued in the fall season. School was held in the New Sweden Lutheran Church on New Sweden Church Road during construction. Construction was completed later in that year.

1915 was the first full year altogether that Manda School operated on as under the name “New Sweden School” for which it operated as under at first. The New Sweden School sign located on the top roof of the school building faced front towards Manda - Carlson Road.

The Manda School was named after Amanda Bengtson Gustafson who was sister of the settlement’s postmaster the same year. Manda is a short diminutive for Amanda. The name Manda was shortened from the name Amanda. Many students who had attended this school had Swedish ancestry in their family background and came from Swedish families. Most of the students were children of Swedish sharecroppers on the ranch or Swedes who owned farms in the area.    

The name New Sweden/Manda Schoolhouse has given to the school by local historians. Sometimes historians have labeled the Manda School as “New Sweden/Manda Schoolhouse”, “New Sweden Schoolhouse”, “New Sweden Schoolhouse No. 2”, “New Sweden School No. 2”, and “New Sweden/Manda School”. The name of the school has changed over the course of several years however.

From a February 26, 1933 radio program ran by Texas Extended School and Community Health Education Program for New Sweden School states the following.:  “The first pupil school in this community was held in the old New Sweden Lutheran Church (the church that was is where the cemetery is now at FM 973 and New Sweden Church Road)…… the present two room school was erected in the summer and fall of 1915…. this building was made possible by a bond issue voted by the community in the spring of that year.”


1916 is when the Manda School was opened as a two-room schoolhouse which was a single story building structure for the Manda Common School District in the settlement of Manda, Texas. Manda School was spread out into a 2 room plan incorporated in the school building structure.

Prior to 1916 the Manda School building was used as the New Sweden School building in the New Sweden School District. The New Sweden School sign located on the top roof facing Manda - Carlson Road had been changed to Manda School. The Manda School eventually became known as the Manda Schoolhouse to locals in 1916.

1916 is the year when Manda School and New Sweden School swapped buildings. The then-present New Sweden School building became the Manda School with the New Sweden School being relocated by moving into a church building located on 12178 New Sweden Church Road in Manor, Texas near the New Sweden community and settlement. Manda School was located inside the former New Sweden School building built in 1915. Historians have agreed that the Manda School was the original New Sweden School building. Many historians claim this statement as a fact.

1916 was the same year the community of Manda, Texas was granted its own school district by the State of Texas and Travis County Public Schools which was called Manda Common School District with Manda School separating from New Sweden School District. Manda Common School District included students from neighboring communities such as Manor, New Sweden, Littig, Kimbro, Carlson, and Elgin.

1917 is when the Manda School had an attendance rate of 30 students per day. 2 teachers taught 30 students with 15 students on the lefthand side of the school building and 15 students on the righthand side of the school building. One side taught elementary grades and the other side taught middle school grades and high school grades.


By 1920, the attendance rate had dropped to 20 students per day. However in the middle of the 1920-1921 school year is when the attendance rate had started beginning to pick up with a rate of 25 students per day in daily attendance.

12th grade was added in 1923. Manda School operated as a 1-12 school by then with Manda School teaching 1st grade through 12th grade in that two-room schoolhouse. This was unusual as most schools in the state of Texas either stopped at 10th grade or either 11th grade. Even high schools never went past 10th grade level or the 11th grade level.


The Manda School District had a negro school called Manda Colored Public School which also went under the names Manda Colored School, Manda Negro School, and Kimbro Negro School. According to Manda School Board Records 1947-1963, the Manda Negro School went under several names. The Manda Negro School was located next to Manda School. The Manda Negro School was jointly operated by the Kimbro School District even after 1947 when the Kimbro School District consolidated into the Manda Common School District. 

Once Kimbro School District consolidated into the Manda Common School District, both Kimbro White School and Kimbro Negro School were operated by the Manda School District including the Kimbro School on FM 1100 as well. The Manda Negro School was the former Kimbro Negro School. Kimbro Negro School became the Manda Negro School in 1948 as the Kimbro Negro School was consolidated into Manda Common School District in 1947. Not much is known about the Manga Colored Public School or its history, but county records indicated this school certainly existed.

From the 1947-1948 school year up until 1963 is when the Kimbro Negro School was operated by Manda School District. Walter Banks was elected as principal for the Manda Negro School in 1959. The Manda School Board made a motion to move Manda Negro School into one building with telephone service included in the year of 1960. 1960 is when the former Kimbro Negro School relocated next to Manda School (Manda White School). Manda Negro School consolidated into Elgin ISD in 1963. Sometime after 1963 is when the Manda Negro School was demolished.


In 1942, the Austin American-Statesman newspaper credited and condemned Henry Munson, Albert Munson, Victor Bengston, Martin Anderson, Albin Holmburg, and Edwin Berggren as active pallbearers from New Sweden Lutheran Church. They were active in church services and the New Sweden School Board as well as Manda School Board.

The Austin American-Statesman newspaper had credited and condemned Henry Munson, Albert Munson, Victor Bengston, Martin Anderson, Albin Holmburg, and Edwin Berggren as honorary pall bearers from New Sweden Lutheran Church the same year. They served on the Board of Deacons of the Church.

New Sweden School was consolidated into the Manda Common School District in 1947. New Sweden School students attended school in Manor or Manda School. When New Sweden School was consolidated with the Manda School in the Manda Common School District, New Sweden School was a K-7 school. Kindergarden was added to Manda School and New Sweden School in 1945 prior to consolidation. As a result of school district consolidation, the tax rate was raised from 47¢ to 50¢.

In 1947, Manda Common School District became School District No. 25 for a short time. New Sweden School District No. 22 was dissolved into Manda School District No. 25 by then. Harry Lind of Lund School became vice principal of Manda School.

More schools and school districts were consolidated into the Manda Common School District over time and in the same year as well. Gregg School, Carlson School, Kimbro School, Willow Ranch School, and several other schools along with school districts were consolidated into the Manda Common School District

A vocational building was built next to the school in 1949. The vocational building is where students learned skills and crafts for the workplace. Woodcraft was taught inside this vocational building. Farming and sewing were taught here.


From an Austin American-Statesman newspaper article written in June 3, 1950 under the headlines of “Board To Close School At Merrilltown”, Travis County Public Schools Superintendent Irvin. W. Popham said, “The 13 students in the Merrilltown School will be distributed between the Pflugerville ISD Schools and New Sweden Schools. He said the school was closed because the enrollment had dropped too low.”

As a result overall, 13 students were distributed to Pflugerville ISD Schools, Round Rock ISD schools, and New Sweden Schools. Most students from Merrilltown School were distributed to New Sweden School and Manda School as a result of Merriltown School District consolidation with Round Rock ISD and Pflugerville ISD in 1950. By the 1950-1951 school year, Merrilltown School closed due to a lack of enrollment.

Merrilltown School was an elementary school that served grades 1 through 7. Merrilltown School was known as Merrilltown Elementary School. The Merrilltown School was no longer the 1-12 school it was once known as.

In 1951, the Manda School contributed $20,000 towards the Travis County polio campaign and program. Half of the monetary amount of $20,000 was sent to the national foundation (Polio Foundation) which performed the research for a cure to polio. A news article from the February 01, 1951 edition of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper argued that the monetary amount the amount contributed in the drive won’t even pay their salaries.

Transfers to Elgin High School began in May 1958 at a cost between $20 to $25 dollars at a rate of $248.85 per student. High school students transferred to Elgin ISD to attend Elgin High School. Walter Banks was elected as principal for Manda Negro School. Sid Carwright was appointed as school board trustee in 1959.


The Manda Common School District was dissolved in 1960 during the school district consolidation movement of the 1960s in Texas in an effort to save taxpayers cost. Most students who attended the Manda School were bussed to Elgin ISD though due to proximity towards Elgin. Some students were bussed to Manor ISD.

Manda School had 1,394 students during the 1962-1963 school year. Cost per pupil was $303.46 a year at the balance of $54.61 per pupil raised from local sources. Transfer cost per each student was $54.61 raised from local sources.

During the December 3, 1962 Elgin ISD board meeting, it was established “tuition charged for transfer students in the Elgin Public Schools will be the actual cost as calculated from the budget of last preceding school year.” The State was to furnish $346,896 dollars for each student at a rate of $248.85 per student. $423,627 was divided among the 1,394 students during the 1962-1963 school year. Transfers would begin next year. Transfers to Elgin High School started at 9th grade or 10th grade.

Although the Manda Common School District was dissolved permanently in 1960, the Manda School continued operate until 1963. 1963 is when Manda School was finally closed and stopped operating. Students were sent to schools in Elgin or Manor based where they resided. Elgin ISD permanently closed down Manda School in 1963.

1963 is the same year Manda Community Club was formed. Despite the Manda Community Club being formed, the Manda School building more or less sat abandoned. Manda Community Club tried their hardest to preserve the historic Manda Schoolhouse but ultimately the organization dissolved in 1968. From 1968 onwards, the Manda School more or less sat abandoned with no meaningful use.


The school building still stood in 1969. In 1969 the Manda School was more or less abandoned with no purpose for almost 40 years falling into a state of disrepair. That was until the Friends of Manda School (Friendship of Manda School) decided to make the former Manda School building into a community center which would become the Manda Community Center in 2006. David E Erickson Jr became the trustee for Manda Community Center as of 2009.


From 2016 to 2017, the Friends of Manda School have began maintenance and upkeep of the former Manda School building as an attempt of historic perseveration. Several window panels have been replaced and window screens have been added to all windows of this school. All wooden floors have been flattened and resurfaced to be up to code for building standards and code standards. Central AC heating is now connected to this building.

Today the Friends of Manda School and David E Erickson Jr. own and maintain the Manda Community Center. David E Erickson Jr is the trustee for Manda Community Center as of no. David E Erickson Jr is responsible for the finances and maintenance of the Manda School.

Manda School is now operated, owned, and preserved by the Friends of Manda School (Friendship of Manda School). Friends of Manda School is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of this school building. Every single year the Friends of Manda School clean the school building and land property by mowing the grass and terminating insects from hidden corners. The Manda community along with several volunteers have been restoring the Manda School building to its original condition as found decades earlier.

Every single year the Friends of Manda School hold meetings here at the Manda Community Center. Mainly meetings are about future regards of Manda Community Center and funding for historic preservation toward this building which are held by the Board of Directors for Friends of Manda School. Community functions, social gatherings, programs, and various meetings are still held inside this building. Friends of Manda School plans to keep the Manda School open as the Manda Community Center in Manda, Texas which is near the town of Manor, Texas.

Manda School/Manda Community Center is located at 16717 Manda Carlson Road, Manor, Texas, US 78653. The other address for the Manda Community Center is 16306 Manda Carlson Road, Manor, Texas, US 78653.