In 1870, William Stiles donated one acre of land for the Gregg School to be built on at the present location of 5300 Gregg Lane, Manor, Texas, US 78653. The school building was located northwest of Manor. The school building was constructed of rock and was called Gilleland Creek Academy. Walls of the old rock building were never plastered or renovated. William Stiles was both the architect and builder of the Gregg School. The Gregg School opened in 1871.
Mr. Dew was the first teacher to have taught at the Gregg School beginning in 1872. In 1872 Mr. Dew had gotten married. A 4 room cottage was built by the school board in front of the school for Mr. Dew and his wife in the same year. Mr. Dew boarded with Mrs. Kayte Boyce. Mr. Dew taught at Gregg School from 1872 to 1882.
The Gregg School was not operated as a district school in any of the local school districts in the area, but the students were charged tuition when the school first started operating.William Stiles, William Boyce, Mrs. Kayte Boyce, Lee Giles, Aaron Boyce, and Camell Hill were one of the early trustees for Gregg School.
Students from Manor, Decker, Dessau, and Pflugerville attended this school. Even students from Williamson County attended the Gregg School. Even students from as far as Coupland attended the Gregg School.
The second teacher was Ms. Hattie Hardy who taught there from 1882 to 1896. Ms Hattie Hardy married a man named Mr. Cain. In 1896, Ms. Hattie Hardy moved to a home her hometown of Manor.
William Stiles died on December 24, 1883 at the age of 73 and his wife, Piety Ellis Stiles, died a few years later on May 23, 1885. They are both buried in the Gregg School Cemetery. Their graves are marked by headstones enclosed within an iron fence. In 1884, the school property transferred ownership to Travis County Public Schools and Travis County. After Mr. William Gregg opened a store and post office in 1888, Gilleland Creek Academy became known as the Gregg School.
By the early 1900’s, Sunday Church Services were being held in the school house. Gregg School became known as the Rock Church in 1900. A small cemetery called the Gregg School Cemetery was located close nearby. The Gregg school had 1 teacher and 32 students in 1907 with a 1:32 ratio. The 1908-1909 school year had 1 teacher and 33 students. The 1909-1910 school year had 1 teacher and 37 students with a 1:37 ratio.
In 1910 the rock building was torn down and a newly built wooden frame building was erected on the site of the former rock building. Only the chimney erected out of rock and brick remained from the rock building. The 1910 wooden frame building was built by Westley Gustafson.
By the 1930s, Gregg School was a K-7 school that taught 1st grade through 7th grade. School stopped after 7th grade. For the 1935-1936 school year, Gregg School had 62 students. There was 1 teacher for 62 students with a 1:62 ratio. One teacher taught all 7 grades for 118 days to 120 days. Of course the teacher got paid for 6 months of teaching during said school semester.
In 1947, citizens of Manor voted to consolidate the school districts of Gregg, Decker, Blue Bluff, Lockwood, New Sweden, Carlson, and Lund into Manor ISD. Series of school district consolidations into bigger school districts were common in Texas from the 1940s to the 1960s. The Gregg School District was no exception to this case.
1948 is when the Gregg School was consolidated into Manor Independent School District (Manor ISD) and Pflugerville ISD. Gregg School was divided between Manor ISD and Pflugerville ISD. Other students who attended Gregg School were bussed to Pflugerville to attend Pflugerville ISD schools while the remaining students attended school in Manor.
The school sat abandoned for a certain amount of unspecified years before being demolished. The land and cemetery reverted ownership to Travis County. In 1963, the Gregg School was all but abandoned.
In 1965, the Gregg School was demolished. From looking at a 1965 aerial map provided by NASA and Historic Aerials (historicaerials.com), one can determine that all that remained of the Gregg School was a pile of rocks ashes from the demolished school building resembling a pile of dirt often found at construction sites. The 4 room cottage built by the school board in 1872 still remained at the front.
1965 is when land for the former Gregg School property and the Gregg School Cemetery were deeded and sold to a man named Christian Buck who lived on the land until his death. In 1965, Christian Buck conerveted the land into a ranch after paperwork was finalized. Christian Buck bought the land from Manor ISD, Pflugerville ISD, and Travis County.
The Christian Buck Estate deeded Jack W Gullahorn and Patricia H Gullahorn the former Gregg School land property and Gregg School Cemetery on the date of 11/24/1982. A house was built on the former Gregg School land property in 1983 for Jack W Gullahorn and Patricia H Gullahorn. The 1983 house was built as a 3 story house. A trailer was hauled onto the property during the same year which was located west of the house. The 4 room cottage built by the school board in 1872 located at the front was demolished.
In 2005 and 2006, Schoenstatt Movement of Austin deeded and granted Alexander House the Gregg School land property and the Gregg School Cemetery to Alexander House of Austin from a quit claim deed.
In 2010, Alexander House of Austin deeded and granted Gregg School land property and the Gregg School Cemetery back to Jack W Gullahorn and Patricia H Gullahorn from a quit claim deed. No changes to the cemetery were made.
As of September 2017, Jack W Gullahorn and Patricia H Gullahorn still own the former Gregg School land property and the Gregg School Cemetery. Jack W Gullahorn has since converted the land into a ranch. No known changes have been made to the cemetery were made.
All that remains of the Gregg School is the Gregg School Cemetery located private land on the right side of Gregg Lane. The cemetery is completely overgrown with tall grass and almost all tombstones found are toppled over. The cemetery is in poor condition. Patricia H Gullahorn and Jack W Gullahorn are the caretakers for the Gregg School Cemetery. Gregg School Cemetery is also known as the Old Rock Church Cemetery.
The Gregg School was located at 5300 Gregg Lane, Manor, Texas, US 78653.
Nothing was left of any structures at Gregg Cemetery (School or Church) when it was purchased by the Gullahorns in 1982. Through the years, they worked to protect the cemetery, and find descendants of those buried there who might be willing to help maintain it. In the process of cleaning and clearing out the cemetery, it is believed that part of the rock foundation, pavers leading to the entrance of the school/church and two holes for "outhouses" were located in one corner of the property. It appears that the structure that was there had burned. Part of the "cleaning crew" included a woman who had gone to school there. She verified the location and told stories of riding to school on horseback. She also shared that her aunt had owned a house at the same location of the Gullahorn's home, which is on a hill across from the cemetery property itself. In 2015, Gregg Cemetery was finally granted status as a Historic Texas Cemetery largely through the efforts of Richard Lamson of Dallas (whose wife had relatives buried in the cemetery), a host of other family members and the Gullahorns. The Gullahorns have tried to gather information and records related to the cemetery to share with anyone who is interested.
ReplyDeleteThank you for clarifying as to what happened to the structure. Do you know what happened to the structures?
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