Site of Holt School

The Depression that closed Holt School emptied much of Briscoe County. Cotton had spread from eight acres in 1900 to more than 36,000 by 1929, but the number of farms fell from 679 to 516 between 1929 and 1940, cotton production dropped by more than 30 percent, and the population went from 5,590 in 1930 to 4,056 in 1940. Mechanization after World War II pushed more families off the land; by 2014 the county had 1,536 people. In 2002 about 65 percent of the county's cropland was irrigated.

What the plaque says

Site of Holt School (2 miles east) In 1913, G.C. Holt moved his wife and eight children to the Briscoe-Floyd county line. Because of the distance to the nearest school, Holt and neighbor E.M. Lawson organized the Holt School District, commissioned on September 7, 1920 with two acres of land. In 1921, trustees built a one-room frame schoolhouse, and it opened with 15 students, one teacher and courses for grades 1-7. Over the years, teachers often boarded with local families. The school closed in 1933 during the Great Depression, and the building stood vacant until 1944, when it was dismantled. Later, an irrigation well for area farms was located on the former school site. (2005)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway — 23 mi
  Red canyons below the Caprock escarpment where the Texas State Bison Herd, descended from calves Mary Ann Goodnight saved in 1878, has right of way on the park roads.

More markers nearby

• Francis School — 4.9 mi
• Site of Reeves Post Office — 7.4 mi
• Site of Celtic Post Office — 7.6 mi
• First Baptist Church of Claytonville — 9.4 mi