Historical Marker

Daule School

Historical marker location:
107 Daule St., Cuero, Texas
( 2 blocks SW of the former Daule Colored High School)
Marker installed: 2014

Cuero Colored High School was founded in 1892 as the first African American school in Cuero. The building was a one-room wooden structure built on lot fourteen of the Morgantown addition to the city. Prior to the 1890s, schools for black children were available in the rural communities. A tax bond was passed to allow the first public school for black children to be built. Most of the pupils came from farm families and could only attend school when they were not working. The first teacher was C.H. Griggs, a 32-year-old graduate from the Southern University of Baton Rouge. The principal of the school was Eugene Daule, who played an important role in black education progress in Dewitt County for the next 40 years. He held extra literary programs for students and used the materials available to the school as best he could, though it was obvious that the schools were not equal in funding and supplies.

In 1937, the name of Cuero Colored High school was changed to Daule High School. A new school building was constructed in 1948 using the latest school building design, built of hollow tile and concrete and painted white. In 1947, Principal George Anderson introduced a music program. Under the leadership of David Hegwood, the band excelled and received many Division I ratings at state competitions. The school also excelled in academics, agriculture, sports, homemaking and choir. The school closed in 1965 when Cuero public schools integrated. Daule High School and Cuero Colored High School remind us of the struggles of the black community and their resolution in the face of adversity.