Fourth Ward School

In 1875 the first school system was established in San Antonio and fourteen teachers were assigned to five schools. One of these schools, the Fourth Ward was located at the comer of Lavaca and Matagorda and occupied the second floor of a building constructed by the City while the first floor served as a fire station. This is the only building left of the original five schools and is reflective of the type of architecture used in the schools. The same building is now the Administration Office for the San Antonio Independent School District, the oldest and largest school district in the city, and houses the Superintendent's Office. Located close to the Alamo and within two blocks of the historical King William District, the school served the educational needs of many prominent members of the community.

The first floor of the building constructed by the City of San Antonio in 1875 served as a fire station until 1882 and the second floor contained the Fourth Ward School. The entire structure became the Seventh Ward School in 1882. The structure served as the Page School Annex until it was converted to offices in the late 1920's. It continues to serve the same purpose today.

The first step toward the establishment of a permanent system of free public education was taken on January 4, 1853. The City Council appointed three of its members as a Committee on Education and instructed them to formulate a plan for a system of public schools. That spring primary grade classes were held in two locations with high school classes established later. The first Board of Education was appointed on March 1, 1855 and by 1865 ninety pupils, fifty-five boys and thirty-five girls, were in attendance.

A far-reaching law was passed by the State Legislature in 1873, setting aside one-half of the public domain for the support of schools and authorizing any incorporated city to provide for the gratuitous education of all children of school age within its limits - thus permitting the establishment of independent school districts. In 1875 the five schools, including one for Black children, were placed under the supervision of C. Plagge.

By 1890, the system consisted of ten schools and the Superintendent was J.E. Smith. All of the larger grammar schools were two-story white limestone structures of four classrooms, two down and two upstairs, with an outside stair-way leading from a lower porch to one above. The Administration Building is an excellent example of this type of architecture.

In 1899, the school system was chartered as an independent administrative unit and control was removed from the City Council and placed in the hands of a Board of Trustees, while keeping the same area as the municipality, thus establishing the San Antonio Independent School District.