User:Hebisddave/hebhistory

History

Bedford Schools

The first school in what is now Bedford was established in 1861 in a log cabin and had at least a dozen students. The town temporarily boomed into the thousands in the later part of the century and was the home of Bedford College (which served college and high school age students) from 1882 until the building burned in 1893. In 1912, a new two-story brick school was built on the site of the old college. The population of Bedford grew from as low as 80 residents in 1940 to over 400 in the early fifties; nearly a quarter of these residents were "wayward" boys aged ten to fourteen who lived at Bedford Boys Ranch. The old Bedford School is no longer part of any school district and reopened in 1996 as a museum with rental meeting space.

Euless Schools

In 1857, a school was established near the Estill's Station post office, located on the site of present-day Euless. The community dissipated after the post office closed in 1868, but a combination community hall-church-school building was built a mile to the southwest in 1876.

In 1913, existing schools in the settlements of Euless, Evatt, and Tarrant were combined to form the Euless Common School District. Before the end of the year, voters approved a $7,000 bond issue and the cornerstone was laid for Euless School (on the site of present-day South Euless Elementary). In 1925, voters approved the creation of Euless Independent School District with a seven-member board that could appoint a superintendent. In 1934, the school achieved high school status.

Mosier Valley School

In 1949-1950, a local crisis centered on Mosier Valley School, as parents and school employees struggled against state law requiring racial segregation. Mosier Valley School was organized in 1883 as part of Evatt School District and met in buildings shared with Oak Grove Baptist Church. In 1918, the school moved into its own schoolhouse. The school was closed in 1949; the wooden frame building was in poor condition and still had no heating, lighting, or sanitary facilities. In June 1950, a federal judge ordered the Euless School District to provide a separate school for black children. To comply, the district temporarily re-opened Mosier Valley School. By September 1951, classes were moved into a new brick building. In 1984, a historical marker was dedicated at the original location of the school.

Hurst Schools

Settlers from Indiana established a school at the site of present-day Hurst in the late 1870s. The community was named Ormel for a brief period at the turn of the century before being renamed Hurst in 1909. The Work Projects Administration built a brick school in 1940, when the population of the city was around 100.

Combined Districts

The Euless and Hurst school districts merged in 1955. The combined districts served 1,418 students.

In 1958, the residents of Bedford voted to merge with the Hurst-Euless School District by 212 to 189. The tri-city district served 3,116 students during its first year, including 68 high school seniors, at seven schools: Bell High School (at the current site of Central Junior High), Bedford Elementary (now City of Bedford property), South Hurst (now UAW property), North Hurst (now Hurst Junior High), Mosier Valley Elementary (now a community building), Euless Elementary (now South Euless Elementary), and West Elementary (now West Hurst Elementary).

Later that school year, North Euless Elementary opened and Pennington Field was completed. The next decade brought Wilshire Elementary (1964), the current L.D. Bell High School campus (1965), Donna Park Elementary (1966), Midway Park Elementary (1967), Bell's Driver Education Facility (1968), and in 1969 Trinity High School, Bell Manor Elementary and Hurst Hills Elementary. HEB ISD desegregated in 1968.