Bangs Public Schools

Bangs took its name from its location in the Samuel Bangs survey. A post office opened in 1886, and in 1892, the year the school began, the town counted eight businesses and fifty people. It had 136 residents by 1900. When Bangs incorporated in 1915 it had 600 people and twenty-one businesses, among them four churches, a bank and a weekly newspaper. A water system followed in 1916, and natural gas was piped in by 1920. U.S. Highway 67 came through town in 1932, and a new high school was built in 1963.

What the plaque says

The town of Bangs was established on the route of the Santa Fe Railroad, which deeded land to the city for a school. The first school building, a two-room frame structure on the south side of the railroad tracks, was completed in 1892. Miss Clemie King was the first teacher; enrollment totaled 35 pupils. A new 2-story stone structure, built on the north side of the tracks in 1903, replaced the first building. Over the years the school system has grown and built additional facilities. Nine other area schools have consolidated with the Bangs school system since its founding. (1992)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Brownwood State Park — 11 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Bangs — 0.4 mi
• Thrifty — 6.4 mi
• Charlie Webb and John Wesley Hardin — 7.8 mi
• Robert E. Howard — 7.8 mi