Site of Stamps School

The land belonged to a man with a lot going on. G. H. Baird's 1946 county history says W. O. Stamps bought timberland and Gum Creek bottomland, built a sawmill and planer, made thousands of gallons of ribbon cane syrup, ran a canning factory, and served four years in the legislature. His son Virgil hauled logs to the mill with oxen. The Texas Gospel Music Hall of Fame calls Virgil's Stamps-Baxter company the most successful publisher of shape-note songbooks in America by the late 1930s. Wikipedia names his singing-school teacher Richard M. Morgan.

What the plaque says

Site of Stamps School Established Oct. 24, 1906, and named for settler William O. ("Uncle Billy") Stamps, who gave land and materials for building. Community children, including Stamps' six sons, attended the school. Building also served as church and lodge hall. At behest of W. O. Stamps, music teacher Roe M. Morgan was hired to operate a singing school here. Through his inspiration, two of Stamps' sons, Virgil (1892-1940) and Frank (1896-1965), became gospel singers and founded large music publishing company and school. Present school consolidated with New Diana on March 3, 1934. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Daingerfield State Park — 19 mi
  A pine-and-hardwood park built in 1935-39 by a white and a Black Civilian Conservation Corps company, with a dammed lake, Bass Lodge and a 2.4-mile loop trail around the water.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — 26 mi
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.
• Excelsior House Hotel — 26 mi
  A brick-and-timber hotel at 211 West Austin that began as a river captain's boarding house in 1858 and was revived by a garden club in 1959, and still takes guests with rosewood furniture.
• Lake Bob Sandlin State Park — 27 mi
  A 1987 state park on a 9,000-acre reservoir, where a Republic of Texas stockade called Fort Sherman stood in 1838 and the Caddo lived from A.D. 800 to 1860, now with fishing piers, trails and cabins.

More markers nearby

• Walnut Creek Baptist Church — 3.6 mi
• Site of the Guarantee State Bank — 5.4 mi
• Port Bolivar & Iron Ore Railroad — 5.4 mi
• Murry Institute — 6.0 mi