History of Gurley School in Waco, Texas not forgotten. (Revisited)

Gurley School (Gurley Elementary School) is one of the many forgotten schools of Waco, Texas. Gurley School was located at 3903 South 3rd Street, Waco, Texas, US 76706. The school taught grades Kindergarten through 7. Gurley School operated from 1913 to 2013.


Gurley School was originally a county school built in 1913. The school was built with a gymnasium and 8 classrooms. In the beginning, Gurley School was a 1-7 school which taught grades 1 through 7. After 7th grade is students when students attended junior high school and middle school at North Waco Junior High School and Brazos Middle School.

Students in grades 6 and 7 has classes that were held in different classrooms from all the other elementary grades. Grades 6 and 7 were/are the middle school grades by todays educational standards.


According to a news article from The Waco News-Tribune dating back to May 8, 1947, residents protested an extension ordinance because it would slice off about half the school district’s revenue, thus wreck one of the best of the county schools.

The City granted the petitioners’ request by adopting a motion to kill the ordinance, but City Secretary Otis Dellay was advised to keep the copy of the ordinance because it will be needed again in several years. City officials said the city limits will have to be extended southeast. However the extension ordinance had been delayed. Gurley School was a part of Waco Public Schools (now Waco ISD) by 1947. (The Waco News-Tribune, Page 11, May 8, 1947)


The gymnasium was converted into an auditorium in 1955. Major remodeling to cafeteria was done during the same year. The cafeteria and auditorium were converted into a dual purpose room with the auditorium now being in the cafeteria. The school then taught grades Kindergarten through 7 as Kindergarten was added to the school sometime in the 1950s.

From July 19, 1956 to July 21, 1956 in when Gurley School had received $148,000 dollars worth of alterations to the school building. The front entrance now had a modern design. The front entrance now had a masonry pillar to mark the front entrance as a decorative feature instead old three steel poles as a more modern design.

It was reported in The Waco News-Tribune on the date of June 21, 1956 that Gurley School received major remodeling, extensive repairs, and several renovations. Emergency repairs on Gurley Elementary School were made in the summer of 1956. Restrooms were repaired. Major remodeling and a proposed addition was done in 1957. (Gurley Gets Emergency Repair Work Emergency The Waco News-Tribune, Page 1, June 21, 1956)

Emergency repairs were scheduled in 1953, but were postponed until 1956 and 1957 because of the inability to determine the future enrollment. Major remodeling and a proposed addition was done in 1957. The plans were presented to the administrative staff. Plans were made for beautifying the school grounds. (Board Adopts Gurley School Building Plan The Gurley School, The Waco News-Tribune, Page 1, July 19, 1956)

A committee member from the Gurley School PTA wrote to the school board on May 29 about what they considered "disgraceful" conditions at Gurley School. Mrs. Warren Tynes, president of the PTA, said “The restrooms are not sealed and the commodes are so old they get out of order easily.The commodes are not partitioned off.”


South Waco Elementary School was built to replace Gurley School and the then South Waco School located at the intersection of Oakwood Avenue & 7th Street in 1993. 1995 was the year the new South Waco Elementary School opened at the location of 2104 Gurley Lane for Waco ISD.

Gurley School closed to regular education students in 1997 to become a school for special education students. Gurley School was an alternative school special education students from 1997 to 2013. The school was known as a “special needs school” to Waco residents.

Waco ISD made administrative decisions to close down Gurley School due to low enrollment and high maintenance costs in 2012 during the 2012-2013 school year. Enrollment had dropped every year at this school. So the decision to close the school saving money from high maintenance costs was made. 2013 was the year Gurley School closed. The remaining students were sent to South Waco Elementary School.

In 2013 the school was all but abandoned. Gurley School sat abandoned for a short period of time from 2013 to 2016. As a security measure, a chain link fence protected the school from vandalism and graffiti. By 2016, Gurley School was demolished. All that remains is the parking lot that is now used for Gurley Park.  

The location for this school was 3903 South 3rd Street, Waco, Texas, US 76706.