Jourdanton I.S.D

Jourdanton's district of 1911 was one among a crowd of small ones. The Handbook of Texas counts 37 schools in Atascosa County by 1914, three of them for Black students. Consolidation then thinned the map. Verdi's school joined Pleasanton's in the early 1950s, Rossville's went to Poteet in 1955, Coughran's to Pleasanton in 1956, and Leming's in 1963, while Campbellton sent older pupils to Pleasanton after 1964. By 1982 five consolidated districts were graduating the county's seniors.

What the plaque says

Jourdanton I.S.D JOURDANTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT FROM A TINY SCHOOL TO AN OFFICIAL, RECOGNIZED SINGLE-CAMPUS CONCEPT, THE JOURDANTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS REMAINED DEDICATED TO EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY. IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, COUNTY SCHOOLS SUCH AS THE HILBURN SCHOOL NORTHWEST OF JOURDANTON SERVED THE AREA. SOON THE GROWING ENROLLMENT AND NEED FOR TEACHERS PROMPTED THE COMMUNITY TO APPEAL TO THE LEGISLATURE. IN 1911, THE STATE LEGISLATURE AUTHORIZED THE CREATION OF THE JOURDANTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, THE FIRST IN ATASCOSA COUNTY. RESIDENTS QUICKLY PASSED A BOND ELECTION TO BUILD A SCHOOL AND PARK SYSTEM. A THREE-STORY BRICK BUILDING WAS ERECTED IN THE CENTER OF JOURDANTON. A FOOTBALL FIELD AND HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING WERE ADDED ON ADJOINING LOTS. IN 1938, A GYMNASIUM WAS COMPLETED WITH ASSISTANCE FROM THE WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION. TO ACCOMMODATE A GROWING DISTRICT, A NEW CAMPUS WAS CONSTRUCTED ON THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF TOWN IN 1953 WHERE IT REMAINS TODAY. OVER THE DECADES, JOURDANTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT OVERCAME MANY OBSTACLES. WITH THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR I AND II, THE SCHOOL LOST EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS TO MILITARY SERVICE AND ASSISTED THE WAR EFFORT BY HOLDING WAR BOND DRIVES ON CAMPUS. MANY STUDENTS FROM THE DISTRICT ATTENDED COLLEGES AND THEN RETURNED TO TEACH THE NEXT GENERATION OF STUDENTS. OTHER GRADUATES HAVE GONE ON TO BECOME CHEFS, LAWYERS, RESEARCHERS, WRITERS, AND ATHLETES. THROUGH COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION AND ACHIEVEMENT, JOURDANTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS CEMENTED ITS REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE FOR A VIBRANT AND GROWING COMMUNITY. 175 YEARS OF TEXAS INDEPENDENCE * 1836-2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Atascosa County Courthouse — 0.7 mi
  The only surviving Mission Revival courthouse in Texas, built in 1912-13 on Jourdanton's town circle after a county seat vote that some residents still call a theft.
• Longhorn Museum — 6.5 mi
  Atascosa County in one roadside museum: longhorn-and-mustang ranching, a moved railroad depot and caboose, a horse-drawn hearse and the town that calls itself the birthplace of the cowboy.

More markers nearby

• Atascosa County — 0.7 mi
• Jourdan Campbell — 1.1 mi
• Jourdanton — 1.1 mi
• Ralph Roy Smith — 1.1 mi