A Brief History of Hereford Independent School District Page: 2
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Under the leadership of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar, congress
passed an act in January, 1839, giving each county three leagues of land for
primary schools. At the same time, fifty leagues were set aside for
secondary schools. The Deaf Smith County school land, located in Lamb
County, was sold in 1898 for one dollar per acre; terms four dollars cash, the
balance in forty years at five per cent interest with option to pay all or any
part after seven years. This $17,756, (the number of leagues had been
changed to four), constitutes the Deaf Smith County Permanent School
Fund.
The first school building in Hereford, which was moved from old
Dawn, (located on the creek south of the present location of Dawn),
consisted of one room and was situated at the intersection of Eighth and
Dewey (presently Main) streets. Asa Martin was Hereford's first teacher.
Records show that J.R. Overstreet and his wife began teaching in November
of 1899 with 53 students enrolled. By April, 1901, two more teachers had
been added and there were 208 students enrolled.
A square, two-story frame building was constructed in 1900 at Fourth
and Jackson streets. The building housed four classes taught by Mr. Page,
who was the principal; Miss Clara Stewart, Miss McDonald, and Miss De
Grafinreed. In 1901, two more rooms were added; one room upstairs and
one downstairs.
The town was small then, as were the trees. Hereford was at one time
called the "city of windmills" as there were more windmills than trees;
therefore, the school building stood out quite prominently.
The school building had a bell in the cupola and the high-pitched tone
of the bell could be heard for miles around. Each school day morning the
bell rang out "sharp and clear" for perhaps a half minute at 8:30, followed by
a short warning at 8:55, and at nine, one single tap which meant "books"!
A water well was put down about 1903 or 1904, which had several tin cups
chained to the hand pump. No one thought about this being unsanitary, as
prior to the well being dug, some students would bring a jug of drinking
water from home to be shared, while others might visit neighboring
windmills.
On May 18'th, 1906, the first high school graduation exercises for Deaf
Smith County students were held, honoring the nine graduates of the year.
Judge W. H. Russell made an address and awarded the diplomas. Each
member of the class was on the program and musical numbers were
rendered by two freshmen, Nellie Black and Grace Robinson. Class
members to give the valedictory and salutatory addresses were chosen by the
class, with only five members meeting the requirement that they had
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Waters, Carolyn. A Brief History of Hereford Independent School District, paper, 2004; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46556/m1/2/: accessed May 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Deaf Smith County Library.