Cedar Branch Community School

Fisk University's Rosenwald collection holds a card for Cedar Branch School in Houston County. It records the school as established in 1925-26 on two acres, a two-teacher type, at a total cost of $3,275. Public money supplied $1,875, the largest share. The Black community raised $700, and the Rosenwald Fund also paid $700, so the fund covered about a fifth of the bill and matched what the community gave. A section added to the card's budget lists "Ins. $2,000".

What the plaque says

Cedar Branch Community School Cedar Branch Community School The first written record of a school for the children of Cedar Branch appears in the Houston County Judge's Report of 1888. When the members of Cedar Branch Church constructed a new sanctuary in 1895, they donated the previous church building for use as a schoolhouse. By 1911, Cedar Branch had been designated as Common School District No. 8, and a two-room schoolhouse was later built on this site with support from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. In 1952, along with other nearby schools, Cedar Branch Community School District consolidated with Grapeland Independent School District. Long a focal point of the community, Cedar Branch School remains important to the area's heritage. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 22 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.
• Fort Boggy State Park — 25 mi
  A 1,847-acre park in Leon County named for a settlers' palisade of 1840, with a 15-acre lake, short trails and the story of Tennessee farmers, the Keechi and a Ranger captain.
• Mission Tejas State Park — 28 mi
  A 661-acre pine-forest park on the old El Camino Real near Weches, with a 1930s replica of the 1690 mission, the Rice Family Log Home and trails past remnants of the Spanish road.

More markers nearby

• Cedar Branch Community and Church — steps away
• Dalys/Dailey Community Cemetery — 4.8 mi
• Hall Cemetery — 5.5 mi
• St. Paul Shiloh High School — 5.6 mi