Stacy School
Historical marker location:STACY SCHOOL
NEAR THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY, LARGE NUMBERS OF GERMAN AND CZECH IMMIGRANTS SETTLED IN LAVACA COUNTY. TO EDUCATE THE INFLUX OF CHILDREN, THE COUNTY CREATED NUMEROUS RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS. IN THE 1880s, A SMALL, PRIVATE SCHOOL KNOWN AS THE STACY SCHOOL EDUCATED THE CHILDREN OF LAVACA COUNTY EARLY PIONEERS. WHEN THE LAVACA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT CREATED THE NEW STACY SCHOOL DISTRICT #22 IN 1895, THE NAME WAS KEPT BECAUSE OF THE CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE RURAL SCHOOL HOUSE. BOTH SCHOOLS WERE NAMED AFTER PROMINENT LOCAL LANDOWNER, J.B. STACY, WHO HAD RESERVED LAND FOR THE ORIGINAL SCHOOL SITE. THE STACY DISTRICT ACQUIRED ADDITIONAL LAND IN 1900 FROM H. UMMELMANN AND IN 1912 FROM F. AND ANNA KOENNING. THE 1895 STACY SCHOOL BUILDING WAS A TWO-ROOM WOOD FRAME SCHOOL HOUSE WITH A SMALL STAGE FOR SCHOOL PLAYS AND PROGRAMS. THE SCHOOL GROUNDS INCLUDED A WINDMILL AND CISTERN FOR WATER, OUTHOUSES AND A TEACHER’S HOUSE CONSTRUCTED SOMETIME BETWEEN 1912 AND 1926. BASEBALL, VOLLEYBALL, MARBLES, “MUMBLY PEG” AND DARE BASE WERE POPULAR GAMES FOR THE STUDENTS.
FOR THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS, THE SCHOOL HAD ONE TEACHER FOR SIX GRADES WITH AN AVERAGE OF FORTY STUDENTS. DUE TO LARGE ENROLLMENTS, THE SCHOOL EXPANDED TO EIGHT GRADES AND TWO TEACHERS. DURING WORLD WAR II, ATTENDANCE PEAKED WITH 54 STUDENTS IN 1943. BY THE LATE 1940s, RURAL EDUCATION WAS IN DECLINE. IN 1954, THE STACY SCHOOL DISTRICT #22 CONSOLIDATED WITH THE WITTING DISTRICT #13, ENDING 58 YEARS OF OPERATION AS A FOCAL POINT OF RURAL EDUCATION IN LAVACA COUNTY. THE TEACHER’S HOUSE WAS LATER REMODELED AND IS THE ONLY REMAINING STRUCTURE.
(2012).