Historical Marker

St. Paul-Rehburg School

Historical marker location:
Burton, Texas
( At the intersection of FM 1948 and Rehburg Rd., 6 mi. NE of Burton.)
Marker installed: 1990

Although the earliest written records of the St. Paul and Rehburg Schools date to 1880 and 1883 respectively, local tradition suggests they originated with informal classes held at the homes of pioneer farmers in this area of Washington County in the late 1840s. A schoolhouse was erected on St. Paul Lutheran Church property in 1898. This structure served both the St. Paul and Rehberg students following the creation of a single school district in 1909.

Complaints by students that the new schoolhouse was too far from their homes prompted the County Commissioners to construct a new school building nearer the center of the school district in 1914 on land donated by Henry and Wilhelmine Kiel. A third room was added to this structure in 1936 after another local school, called Eberhardt, merged with the St. Paul-Rehburg School. Although the building burned in 1938, it was replaced with a new three-room structure the following year. In 1942 St. Paul-Rehburg provided instruction by three teachers for students through the tenth grade. The school merged with the Burton School District in 1945 and eventually closed in 1946. The school building, used by the St. Paul Lutheran Church for 15 years, was razed in 1962.