Pilot Knob Negro School was constructed and built by Dee Gabriel Collins in 1910. The schoolhouse was a single one-story building. Dee Gabriel Collins donated land for a one-room schoolhouse and hired a teacher. At that time Travis County did not want to provide any other schools or teachers to educate black children. African Americans called the school Pilot Knob Schoolhouse.
Pilot Knob Negro educated students in grades 1 through 7. School stopped after 7th grade. Students would attend either Elroy Negro School or transfer to Austin to continue 8th grade. Colorado Common School District (now Del Valle ISD) operated Pilot Knob Negro School from 1910 to 1956. (Ref: https://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-education/del-valle-district-opens-newest-school-named-for-twice-freed-slave/tfyCqkcYr33a51FBpSxdwO/)
He eventually deeded the school property to Travis County. Travis County began paying the teacher’s salary. The exact date of when Dee Gabriel Collins deeded the school property to Travis County is unknown. Sanitary needs were met with outhouses.
The new Pilot Knob Negro School was built in 1930 on two acres of land during the 1930–1931 school year. The Pilot Knob Negro School was a two-story Rosenwald School that replaced a former one-room school house constructed and built by Dee Gabriel Collins. The new Pilot Knob Negro School included two classrooms, a library, and outhouses. The total cost was $3,600 dollars with insurance costing $2,000 dollars.
Pilot Knob Negro School had 41 students during the 1934-1935 school year. Weekly attendance was 30 to 32 students weekly. Daily attendance was 30 to 31 students on average per daily basis. There was one teacher for 41 students. The cost per year was $346. Average spending on each student was $11.53 for student each year. The teacher taught seven grades for 114 days to 120 days and got paid for six months tops.
Pilot Knob Negro School had 42 students during the 1935-1936 school year. The teacher taught all seven grades for 114 days. Pilot Knob Negro School was already an elementary school by then as it had been since the beginning. Pilot Knob Negro School had no athletic program.
Ada Cecilia (Collins) Anderson was an honor graduate of Pilot Knob Negro School to high school and was an honor student from day one.
Bad behavior was not tolerated or taken lightly. If a student got out of line, the teacher would mete out corporal punishment or receive a sharp reprimand. Good behavior was rewarded with early recess and less homework.
Colorado Common School District (Del Valle ISD) closed down the school in 1956 and relocated its students into other schools across the school district. Colorado Common School District closed the school down as an attempt to racially integrate its public schools. Racial integration came smoothly in the school district.
In 1966, Del Valle ISD sold the building and land property to famous Spanish singer Augustine Ramirez. The school had been converted into a residence in 1966. Augustine Ramirez and his family have lived there for years. Mary Ann Ramirez has lived in the house since 1967. (Ref: Daily Dispatch, 2016)
On the date of June 7, 2016, Austin firefighters worked for hours that Tuesday night, battling a two-alarm house fire. The fire began around 7:30 PM at 7902 Dee Gabriel Collins Road.
According to an Austin Fire Department spokesperson, the home on fire was connected to an auto body shop called A & S BODY SHOP located at 8503 Dee Gabriel Collins Road. Luckily no one was injured in the fired. Mary Ann Ramirez was present in the home when a man ran inside yelling that there was a fire.
The smoke from the fire was visible from multiple directions around the city.Austin Fire Department had to fill trucks with water to extinguish the blaze as hydrants were a good distance from the property.
As firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, the former Pilot Knob Negro School building had unfortunately burned to the ground. Nothing had remained after the fire. It was a total loss for the Ramirez family. The only reminder left of the school building that is visible is the brick chimney which is still standing. (Ref: KXAN, Heroic efforts save family from 2-alarm house fire, June 7, 2016)
Today only the chimney remains standing. Its concrete foundation remains visible from aerial view. Today Augustine Ramirez and Mary Ann Ramirez own the property and still do to this day.
Pilot Knob Negro School was located at 7902 Dee Gabriel Collins Road, Austin, Texas, US 78744.
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