Alla School

The school ran on a trust, not a tax. The Hubbards divided their estate into a permanent fund that could never be spent and an available fund for teachers and buildings, managed by self-electing trustees. A two-story wooden building went up in spring 1896, built by Ben and Willie O'Brien, with the Masonic lodge meeting upstairs. Around 1908 A. L. Dyer adopted a formal course of study, and its first graduates were David Styles, Ollie Finley and Hubbard Finley. A brick building replaced the frame one in 1923.

What the plaque says

Alla School In 1866 Moses and Mary Jane Hubbard and their daughter Alla moved from Missouri to Collin County, where Hubbard was a successful doctor, farmer, and one of the largest landholders in the area. Concerned with the inadequacy of the local school, the Hubbards supplemented Alla's education at home and then sent her to Pritchett Institute in Glasgow, Missouri, where she earned a degree in literature in 1880. A talented writer, Alla Hubbard returned to Texas and married Dr. B.F. Spencer in 1884, but died five years later. In 1895 her parents founded a school in her memory. Named Alla School, it was formed from the consolidation of the nearby Emerson and McWhirter school districts and was completely financed by the Hubbards. With an initial enrollment of 108, Alla School opened in 1896 with nine grades, no scholastic age limit, no tuition, and an eight-month school term. The Hubbards, aware of the benefits of a solid educational background, instituted these uncommon features at a time when there was little support for free public shools. In 1958 the Alla School merged with the Celina Independent School District. Funds from the Hubbard estate, however, continued to serve public education in the Celina Schools. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 17 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — 24 mi
  An 1896 courthouse by W. C. Dodson in Denton limestone, pink granite and two sandstones, restored in 2004, now a free county museum on a lawn holding the grave of John B. Denton.
• Great Hanging Memorial — 28 mi
  Two granite monuments in a Gainesville park, dedicated in 2014, for the Cooke County men the Confederate militia hanged in October 1862 on suspicion of Unionism.

More markers nearby

• Old Celina Cemetery — 4.8 mi
• Cottage Hill Methodist Church and Cemetery — 5.0 mi
• First Christian Church of Weston — 5.6 mi
• Town of Gunter, on Old Gunter Ranch — 5.9 mi