Site of Cost School

Cost took its name in 1897, when its post office opened in Samuel C. Hindman's store. Old Oso's first business was rancher J. B. Wells's store for the hands on his 10,000-acre ranch. German cotton farmers brought William Muenzler, who moved his gin here from Cummins Creek in Fayette County in 1892; it ran in the family until 1923. In 1925 the Cost Hot Well, a strong artesian sulfur spring, was developed into a spa, and on March 14, 1937, Governor James Allred dedicated a monument downtown to the first shot of the Revolution.

What the plaque says

Site of Cost School In the 1890s, children of families living in the Cost community, originally known as Oso, attended area schools that were part of the White School District No. 38 and the County School District No. 38-1/2 to the east. By 1903, the county built the Cost Community School, although some students attended Oso School about two miles west of Cost. In 1915, officials created the Cost Common School District No. 22. Trustees R.N. Hester, B.L. Dikes, Otto Luescher, Ernst Schieberle and Samuel Lester hired noted architect Henry T. Phelps to design a new building to house grades one through ten at this site on land given and sold to the district by Schieberle and Dikes. Gonzales resident Fred Meisenhelder won the contract for construction, and the two-story brick schoolhouse opened its doors to 125 students on October 2, 1916. In May 1918, the first students graduated from the school. During the next several years, the school curriculum expanded from basic subjects to include music, homemaking, manual training (shop) and athletics. The district added a wood-frame lunchroom facility in 1948. The next year, the Cost District was annexed into the Gonzales Independent School District, and students began making the transition to Gonzales schools. Cost School closed its doors in May 1959, and the next year a local property owner bought it and used the bricks to construct a home across the road. For many years, community groups continued to use the former lunchroom for meetings, but today the Cost School is only a memory. (2006)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Site of the First Shot of the Texas Revolution — steps away
• First Shot of the Texas Revolution — steps away
• James Hodges, Sr. — 4.6 mi
• Community of Wrightsboro — 5.3 mi