Westphalia Little School

The marker and the Handbook of Texas date this school differently. The marker has it opening in 1884 in the building first used as the church, then remodeled in 1893 as the schoolhouse. The Handbook says a three-room school was built in 1896 and ran as a parochial school until 1935, when it joined the public system. The Handbook adds that the school still taught kindergarten through eighth grade in 1989, long after most rural schools had closed. The Sisters of Divine Providence, who came from San Antonio in 1899, kept teaching there after the parochial program ended.

What the plaque says

Westphalia Little School Plans for the establishment of a school to serve the German Catholic community of Westphalia began soon after the earliest settlers arrived here in 1879. Under the direction of the first trustees, Anton Jansing, Joseph Hoelscher,and Stanislaus Rollewitz, the school was set up to provide parochial and public instruction. The Westphalia Little School opened in 1884. Early teachers were J. H. Pels; Professor A. Kechoff; Brother Stefan Geiser, CPPS; George Laloumoudiere; G. Horst Daniel; Joseph Henke; and Tim Sullivan. The building was originally constructed as the Church of Visitation. After being heavily damaged by storms, it was remodeled in 1893 for use as the community schoolhouse. In 1899 the Sisters of Divine Providence from Our Lady of the Lake Covent in San Antonio began teaching in the school. Although the parochial program ended in 1935, the Sisters have continued to serve in the public school. Since 1884 Westphalia Little School has continued to offer area residents a quality educational program based on a cooperative effort between public and parochial instruction. (1982)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum — 14 mi
  The Santa Fe depot of 1911 in a railroad town that began in 1880 as a construction camp, now a museum with locomotives and cars parked beside the active rail yard.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 21 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.
• Mother Neff State Park — 25 mi
  A Leon River park that grew from six acres Isabella Neff left the state in her 1921 will, where Civilian Conservation Corps Company 817 built a stone tower, a pavilion and roads in the 1930s.
• Calvert — 28 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.

More markers nearby

• Church of the Visitation — steps away
• Homesite of Theodore Rabroker — 1.4 mi
• Barclay Cemetery — 3.4 mi
• Farmers Mutual Protective Association of Texas (RVOS) — 3.9 mi