Tablito School was named after a place called La Tablita. Governor Manuel Salcedo and Governor Herrera along with his 12 other officers were escorted from San Antonio de Béxar under an armed guard. They were executed near the site of the battlefield at a place called “La Tablita” in 1813.
The killing of Governor Manuel Salcedo and his officers in 1813 was by some of the revolutionaries. A declaration of independence was adopted on April 6, 1813, establishing the First Independent State of Texas of the Mexican Republic, with José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara as president. (Ref: Castaneda, 1950, p. 99)
Tablito School was built in the area of La Tablita on January 1st, 1917 for Common School District No. 23 aka Elemndorf School District. Bexar County Common School District was responsible for financing and maintaining this school. J. C. Schulz was appointed by a county judge and commissioners to hold an election for increased special school tax and issuance of school bonds.
Tablito School was once located at the intersection of Streich Road & Old Corpus Christi Road just 3½ miles west of Elmendorf. Tablito School was also known as Tablito Elementary School. (Ref: East Central Independent School District Museum map of 1949)
Talbito School had a high percentage of Hispanic students many of whom were Mexican. Over 70% of its student population was Hispanic. It was a “Mexican school” for Hispanic students enrolled in the Elemndorf School District which is why it was called the “Mexican school”. Children spoke Spanish freely while attending Tablito School.
After 1920, many Texas school districts also opened mandatory segregated schools for Hispanic children. The “Mexican School” segregation spread rapidly. Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Laredo, and El Paso had “Mexican Schools” by the turn of the 20th century.
By the 1940s, many sections of the state had segregated “Mexican schools”. Many of these developed specifically by the growers to isolate Mexican Americans. Elemndorf was no exception.
Texas operated Mexican Schools in 59 counties throughout the state by 1942. Tablito School was one of the “Mexican Schools”. A 1942 study by Wilson Little found 50% percent of the Mexican American students segregated through the 6th grade in 122 districts in “widely distributed and representative counties” of the state. Few Mexican-American students went beyond the 6th grade. Many of these “Mexican Schools” offered classes only to the 6th grade.
(Ref: Garcia 1981, 110; Rangel 1972, pp. 315, 367)
(Ref: “Mexican American Education Study,” Report 1: Ethnic Isolation of Mexican Americans in the Public Schools of the Southwest, 1971)
In 1949, the East Central Independent School District was formed and 15 rural schools were united into that one school district. Tablito School was consolidated into East Central Independent School District in 1949. Tablito School was closed in 1951. The Tablito School building was moved about a mile east on Goliad Road.
Today Tablito School is now the David Crocket Grange located at 14309 Old Corpus Christi Road, Elemendorf, Texas, US 78112. David Crocket Grange is a grange hall.
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