Historical Marker
Baker Ranch School
Historical marker location:
Odessa, Texas
( From Ector County Courthouse, take US 385 East Service Road North about 12.5 mile (marker is before intersection of US 385 & SH 158))
Marker installed: 1965
Since there were no public schools in rural Ector County, R.W. Smith and Teague Baker in 1906 erected an 8'x10' school building in Baker's pasture. They hired a teacher at $15 a month, plus room and board, which each furnished on alternate months.
Ranch schools like this one taught not only children of ranchers, but also those of cowboys and nesters--small farmers coming west to homestead or to by land at nominal prices.
Baker community later had a public school. Till the permian basin had good roads and buses, ranch schools served it well.