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Oak
Valley School
Oak Valley was one of thirty
school districts created in Navarro County in 1867 by CountyJudge John
L. Miller and a committee composed of E. G. Melton, John M. Bright, L.
H. Dunham, J. C. Wells, J. M Quinlan, and G. W. Foster. Classes were not
held, however, until the 1870s, after a new constitutional provision
allowed for the levying of taxes for public education.
During the late 1870s a one-room
schoolhouse was constructed to serve the surrounding rural area. In 1894
an acre of land formally was deeded for free public school purposes by
the Garner family. The Garners sold an additional acre of land to the
school in 1905. By 1919 enrollment had reached nearly 100 students, and
a new two-room schoolhouse was built to accommodate the growth. Thirty
years later the school was annexed by the Corsicana Independent School
District.
For more than seventy years, Oak
Valley School provided free public education for the children of this
area. Many of the students went on to Corsicana for further schooling.
Oak Valley produced a number of school teachers and military servicemen.
The history of Oak Valley School
provides a significant link to the beginnings of a public school system
in Texas. (1984)
Location: NW corner of Oak Valley, Road at city limits, Oak
Valley, Texas The text of the historical markers
have been posted here with the permission of the Texas Historical Commission |
Navarro County TXGenWeb