Sul Ross School was built to serve as a community school in 1882 for Waco Public Schools (now Waco ISD). Construction period for this school lasted 1 year from 1885 to 1886. The school was built as a 2 story red brick building with a concrete foundation. Wood was used for its interior structure. Sul Ross School finally opened in 1885. The 1885-1886 school year was its very first school year.
Sul Ross School was built to serve as an elementary school which was known to Waco residents as Sul Ross Elementary School. Sul Ross School was a 1-7 school which taught grades 1 through 7. This is what grades were taught at this particular Waco ISD school for over 90 years.
As Waco News-Tribune reported in 1951, “Negotiations with property owners around the Sul Ross School have been under way for several months and the board may have to resort to condemnation of that property if more progress is not made soon.”
(Ref: Waco News-Tribune, Page 16, February 7, 1951)
Students used the 1885 school during construction. Conditions were overwhelming citing overcrowding and availability in classroom space. Completion for the remaining wing of the new building was about a month. One wing of the new Sul Ross Elementary School building was occupied when school opened on the date of September 4, 1952.
Waco ISD officials anticipated a record enrollment of 750 for the Sul Ross School on the date of August 29, 1952 as cited in the Waco News-Tribune.
A new feature of the Sul Ross School was the homemaking suite where elementary school students were taught simple courses. The homemaking suite had three rooms equipped with a sink and cabinets. Teachers instructed personal cleanliness and good health habits. What was built were 12 classrooms, the auditorium-cafeteria, library, health rooms and the suite of offices. Shower rooms were installed.
Smith Building Company and Easterwood and Easterwood architects were the contractors that built the new school building. Total contract price for the building was $499,408.
(Ref: Waco News-Tribune, Sul Ross Wing Will Be Ready For Students, Page 10, August 29, 1952)
On the date of March 5, 1953, several opening ceremonies were held at the new Sul Ross School building. Sul Ross School was torn down and rebuilt into single story brick buildings The new building was a replacement for the old building. The 1885 building was reported to be still standing as a 2 story red brick building facing Ross Avenue.
Sul Ross Elementary School was the largest grade school in the Waco Independent School District. It’s enrollment rate was higher than any other Waco ISD school at that time from 1953 to 1955.
Sul Ross School had received several transfer students in 1954. For instance, Hilda Rios and John Huseby had been transferred from the South Waco School to Miss Bettye Hooper’s third grade room at Sul Ross School. Frank Rios was a new student in Mrs. Charlotte Beane’s 6th grade class.Frank Rias was a new student in Mr. Charles Beane’s 6th grade class. Gene Tanksley was a new student in Mrs. Mary Joyce Wooldridge’s sixth grade room.
(Ref: Waco News-Tribune, Dedication Set Tonight at 6:30 For Sul Ross, Page 7, March 5, 1953)
(Ref: Waco News-Tribune, Sul Ross School Receives Several Transfer Pupils, Page 38, January 17, 1954)
By the mid-1950s, Sul Ross Elementary School was the largest grade school and elementary school located in the Waco Independent School District. It’s enrollment rate was higher than any other Waco ISD school at that time. Several additions, modifications, and renovation were made to Sul Ross School during the 1950s.
By the 1980s, Sul Ross School was no longer a 1-7 school teaching students in grades 1 through 7. Sul Ross School would become then known as what was a “1-5 school” teaching students in grades 1 through 5. Throughout the 80s, Sul Ross School was known as Sul Ross 1-5 School.
On the date of Tuesday, August 28, 1984, about 50 parents staged a march from Bell’s Hill School to Sul Ross School to protest no bus service for their children. The students attended Bell’s Hill last year, but it was closed to students in grades 1-5 that year and the kindergarten was left in the new wing of the facility. The 1-5 students were changed to Sul Ross School at 8th Street and Cleveland Avenue.
Parents expressed their concerns about the young children having to cross South 17th Street and South 18th Street which are one-way streets and walking in the South 11th Street areas which parents consider dangerous.
(Ref: The Waco Citizen, Page 1, Tuesday, August 28, 1984)
Dallas-based Leon Capital Group bought the property from Waco ISD in 2013. Demolition began to the old Sul Ross Elementary School on the date of January 11, 2014. Asbestos removal was done to the Sul Ross School campus. Leon Capital Group had built several single family units and apartment dwellings after the school buildings were demolished. The property had surplus property for a while.
(Ref: Waco Tribune-Herald, Old Sul Ross school comes down, Jan 11, 2014)
Today in the 21st century, Tinsley Place now occupies the former campus of Sul Ross School (Sul Ross Elementary School). The school buildings no longer exist. No traces of this are extant today.
The address for Sul Ross School was 901 South 7th Street, Waco, Texas, US 76706. Sul Ross School was located at the intersection of Cleveland Avenue & South 7th Street, Waco, Texas, US 76706.
I was the music teacher at Sul Ross Elementary from 1969 - 1971. It was first grade through sixth then.
ReplyDeleteSeventh grade was junior high, next block over. Miss Forsgaard was principal then. I remember it so clearly, and I’m sad that it’s gone.
I was a student there in 1972
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