Carver School Grounds

The families who founded Carver traced their history to Spanish Florida, where the crown gave asylum to people escaping slavery in the English colonies. After Spain gave up Florida in 1763, many turned to the Seminoles for protection. They lived in their own towns beside the Seminoles, with their own leaders, kept weapons and controlled their own labor, owing an annual tribute that was usually part of the crop. Their culture mixed Seminole, African and white customs. In the Seminole Wars they fought the U.S. Army in their own units, for their own freedom as well as the Seminoles'.

What the plaque says

Carver School Grounds When Fort Clark's Seminole-Negro Indian Scout Detachment was disbanded by the U.S. Army on September 30, 1914, the Seminoles were required to relocate to Brackettville. They held school in their church until new grounds were purchased by the Brackett Independent School District in March 1919 from J.F. Maddux for the purpose of providing a site for a "colored school" for Brackettville's Seminole-Negro Community. The old Maddux homestead, a two-story limestone structure built in 1870, served as the building for the school, which was named George Washington Carver School. The first floor was used for classrooms while the second floor was leased to the black masonic lodge until 1923. In 1930, the structure was condemned as unfit and unsafe for school purposes. The second story of the building was thus removed in 1944 and the first floor was remodeled inside and stuccoed on the outside. The building was again used as classrooms for the primary and elementary grades while high school classes were conducted in a new building completed in early 1944 by the 162nd Engineer Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Division then stationed at Fort Clark. At the time, Carver School was the only accredited black school between San Antonio and El Paso. The Seminole Indian Scout Cemetery Association was deeded the school grounds by the Brackett I.S.D. in November 1965. The original stone schoolhouse has since served as a meeting hall and cultural center for the Brackettville Seminole Community, including local Juneteenth celebrations and Seminole Day each September. The 1944 building now serves as classrooms for the community Headstart Program. (2009)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Clark and the Old Guardhouse Museum — 0.6 mi
  The 1852 post at Las Moras Springs, home from 1872 to 1914 of the Black Seminole scouts, now a gated resort with its old guardhouse open as a museum on weekends.
• Kickapoo Cavern State Park — 21 mi
  A lightly developed former ranch on the Kinney-Edwards line with twenty caves, a Saturday tour into a 1,400-foot cavern and a summer bat flight from Stuart Bat Cave.

More markers nearby

• Fort Clark, U.S.A. — 0.3 mi
• 2nd Cavalry Division at Fort Clark — 0.4 mi
• Military Roads in Texas — 0.5 mi
• Fort Clark — 0.5 mi