History of the Washington School in Washington, Texas.

In 1880, a church and school building was erected in a central location at Brown's Prairie, with the Reverend David Buchmueller serving as both pastor and schoolteacher.  Washington School started its fledgling beginning as Brown's Prairie School as a small rural wooden one-room schoolhouse built in 1880. Washington School operated under School District No. 42 from 1880 to 1951.

A newer six-room schoolhouse was built in 1911. Washington School then was an explementary state certified elementary school which taught 1st grade through 6th. There was one teacher for those six grades. 7th grade students transferred to schools in Brenham ISD.  Washington School (then Brown's Prairie School) was a K-6 school.

In 1927, Brown’s Prairie School became an intermediate school. The school then taught 10 grades. Three teachers taught there. In 1932, another teacher was added. The Washington School scored 827 1/2 points as a Class A school in the 1934-1935 school semester. 11 grades were taught at this school at one point in time.


A contract with the town of Washington, Texas and WPA was laid out to build a new school building to replace the wooden building. This newer school building would serve and educate students of the town in the year of 1938. Construction of the school building began in 1939. Construction period for this school took a year from 1939 to 1940. WPA helped funded the school’s construction as part of their responsibilities.

The Washington School building was built as a single story structure with limestone and granite from a quarry. Walls were constructed out of limestone. Travis Broesche and Carl Whitmarsh were the architects responsible for construction of Washington School. Travis Broesche was the architect and the stone mason was Carl Whitmarsh. An auditorium was added.


In 1940, the Washington School was finally completed and ready to educate students of the area. The 1939 school building replaced the 1911 one-room school building. The 1940-1941 school year was the first school semester Washington School operated on. More than 100 students were served during that school semester. Brown's Prairie School changed its name to Washington School in the 1940s.

In 1950 the school was transformed into a K-8 school. In 1951 is when the Washington School was closed down and consolidated into Brenham ISD. The 1950-1951 school year was the last school term Washington School operated on. All of its students were transferred to Brenham ISD after being annexed into the school district.

Today the school building has been repurposed into Washington Volunteer Fire Department and also serves as a modern day community center. A Texas Historic Landmark was issued to the school in 2016.