Moline School Site

The community around the school had a name with two stories: some said settlers named it for Moline, Illinois, and others that it came off the label of a new plow at the blacksmith shop. Jack Bullock built a cotton gin in the early 1900s with help from the whole community, and a post office opened in J. W. Trussell's store in 1910. Dr. Hicks kept a drugstore that doubled as his office and an emergency operating room. Moline counted about 100 people during World War II, and twelve in 2000.

What the plaque says

Moline School Site The Moline community was settled on the north central boundary line of Lampasas County in the 1880s. Early families in the area were the Carswells, Cooks, Andersons, Woods, Bakers, O'Neals, Hairstons, Pattersons, Poes, Murphys, Adamses, and Woolseys. Children of the settlers attended school in Payne Gap (Mills County) or in the Gray community. Facilities at these schools grew too small to accommodate the number of children in the area. In 1916, Kenneth A. and Olive Patterson donated five acres of land for the Moline School. Prominently sited on a hill (100 yds. SE) overlooking the community, the original three-room building was constructed by G. C. O'Neal with the help of other citizens. From 1916 until 1949, Moline School grew to include five classrooms, a science lab, library, homemaking room, shop, lunchroom, and a four-room teacherage. During its peak enrollment in the early 1930s, Moline was the largest rural school in Lampasas County. Although the school closed in 1949 and Moline is now a ghost town, their history is an important part of the heritage of Lampasas County. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hancock Springs Park — 24 mi
  Lampasas's city park on Sulphur Creek, with a spring-fed swimming pool that holds about 69 degrees all year, the walls of the old bathhouse and a golf course.
• Colorado Bend State Park — 26 mi
  Old ranch country on the Colorado above Lake Buchanan, where a spring-fed creek drops 70 feet over fern-covered travertine at Gorman Falls.

More markers nearby

• Atherton School — 5.0 mi
• Pleasant Grove Cemetery — 7.0 mi
• Long Cove Baptist Church — 8.3 mi
• Richard S. Stokes — 8.3 mi