Del Rio News Herald from Del Rio, Texas • Page 34

NEWS-HERALD, Sunday, January 24,1982 SFDRCISD On July 1, 1890, early Del Rioans voted for incorporation. of file-Town of Del Rio, 1 as they were now officially known, elected the first five-member board of trusteesvof- Del Rio Independent School District on July 20,1890. By September 1892, voters had passed the district's first school bond issue for construction of-a $10,000 two-story bride schoolhouse, at 6 percent The school board set ad valorem taxes for school district residents at 25 cents per $100 Valuation. The school was completed in 1893 and contained four classrooms and a hall on the lower level and an auditorium on the second. Instruction in the Del Rio High School did not extend beyond the ninth grade until about 1897, Lewis reports, when the 10th grade was added, followed in a few years by the llth grade.

Hie annual school terms varied in length from five to eight months, depending on funds, while interim "private schools" open to tuition-paying students were conducted in the same buildings during the "off seasons." Elsewhere during the 1890s, Val Verde County was growing. With the addition of small communities in the great'expanse outside of Del Rio came the addition of other common school districts under the control of the County School Board. One of these districts was the San Felipe Common School District, or School District No. 2. Although the school meant little to Del Rio in its early years, it would soon become a major force with which to be reckoned.

Enrollment increased steadily in Del Rio and soon the district outgrew its building. In September, 1907, voters approved a second bond of $30,000 for more construction. In March, 1908, the school board purchased land for North Heights School, and began construction of a six-room, two-story brick school to replace a small one-room frame building previously used in the district The North Heights building cost about $11,000. At the same time, the school board spent 513,000 for an eight-room addition to the 1893 building. Various other construction projects were undertaken and by January.

1921. the sixth bond for the district was proposed at The 1921 bond provided funds for construction and equipment of a new high school (which later became the junior high and Central Elementary School): a home economics cottage: a vocational agriculture building: and a small building for Hispanic beginning of three-wax- segregation. ith the passage of those bonds, the Del Rio district remained some $80.000 in debt during the late 1920s. The prelude to the Depression. had begun and tax revenues were decreasing.

More space was needed for the Del Rio schools, but little additional money was available. San Felipe, on the other hand, had few expenses. "About 1927, an ofl company located some storage tanks on San Felipe property," explained J.B. Pena. As a matter of survival, in June, 1928, the Del Rio ISD board of trustees opted to annex an adjacent portion of theSan Felipe common district.

"Since Del Rio was having some money problems. they asked to consolidate the districts, because with the tanks came revenues from Pena said. "But they want the whole district, only the part with the tanks on ft." With schools to maintain and the revenues from the tank farm and other monies from the comity taxes, the San Felipe common district could be maintained, albeit humbly so. Yet, the district was growing as the population and the educational aderests grew. Soon It would be time for expansion.

However, when the request came from Bel Rio ISD.feeBngswere mixed abontfte annexation. "Unssnove wasfirst accepted as a logical solution to Hie school problem (of overcrowding) by some." local historian AJS. Gutierrez Brown Plaza, which inspired growth in San Felipe, remains a symbol of pride. Brown Plaza kindled SF pride Although San Felipe has always been a part of the Del Rio city limits, the residents of the area "across the creek" have their own historical beginnings. In the early 1800s before San Felipe existed, a group of Mexicans resided on what later became the Moody property here.

Called "Las Zapas" (the trenches) or "El Salto," the community was a largely nomadic group who lived in holes dug in the ground and roofed with branches, brush and mud. Some of those residents moved on to other areas, while others finally disbanded the group by early 1870 with the help of two sisters who provided them adequate shelter. The sisters. Dona Paula and Dona Refugio Losoya de Rivera, had come to the Las Zapas area in 1862 from Rio Grande City. The women, together with Paula's husband, James Taylor (who was one of the five original members of the stock company which began Del Rio), obtained a concession of U.S.

government land for developing. In his thesis, "The History of the San Felipe Independent School District," JJ3. Pena wrote of Paula Losoya's struggle following her husband's death shortly after the land approval and her influence on the community's growth. "Dona Paula, undaunted by this grevious loss, continued the work they had started. She had the land cleared for farming, and built homes for Pena wrote in 1950.

"She was conscious of the need for irrigation in order to produce better crops, and thus, with her aid, the first irrigation ditch, known as Acequia Madre, was constructed. "Later she constructed a sugar mill, a flour mill and a gin. She became very rich and hired many men to work for her." Paula Losoya's influence continued, as noted in A-E. Gutierrez's recounting of "A History of San Felipe." "The Las Zapas gradually started losing their nomadic inclinations and began moving in with Dona Paula, who was by now in great need of laborers for her hacienda," Gutierrez wrote in 1962. "'The hacienda kept growing in numbers of people and many of these early residents started to cross the San Felipe Creek to form their homes, joining others who were moving in from other parts, of the state and Mexico "However, the Losoya Hacienda continued being the center not only of political but of religious activities as wett," Gutierrez continued.

Losoya sisters, who were devout Catholics, made arrangements to have the Oblate Fathers from Eagle Pass make monthly visits to their estate where the whole town would gather. The residents of San Felipe, who in the majority were of the Roman Catholic faith, would cross the creek to attend services as well as to have their children baptized, a practice that continued up until the year 1895 when the Sacred Heart Parish was established." As the San Felipe Community grew, local leaders thought about educating the children. Only a few children attended the Del Rio schools, because they were far from the San Felipe homes and took time away from the "work day." Many parents did not encourage their children to attend school as they did not place much importance on education. By 1883, however, things were changing in San Felipe. That year, residents built a small, wooden frame school with a gabled roof, where the Stephen F.

Austin Elementary School stands today. "Every day someone was appointed by the teacher to go after the pails of water that the children consumed during the. day," Gutierrez wrote. "This was fetched from the creek, of course, and every youngster helped himself to a drink with the use of the same dipper and occasionally by merely tilting the pail and drinking from it. This latter method only with the, absence of the teacher for it was not considered very sanitary." the turn of the century, San Felipe became- a common district of Val Verde County, along with six other districts: Jones, Pandale, Juno, Star Route, Langtry and Dolan.

Val Verde County was growing rapidly during the late 1800s. With the addition of small communities in the great expanse outside of Del Rio came the addition of other common school districts under the control of the County School Board. One of these districts was the San Felipe Common School District, or School District No. 2. Or tnese, San Felipe was the largest in terms of population, serving an area of 60 square miles.

Gradually, school participation increased and in £908, the old wooden school was replaced with a new 'buflding which became known as San Felipe No. 1. That year, San Felipe No. 1 housed a faculty of nine teachers (plus a music and about 500 students. Since the school provided classes only through the seventh grade, more advanced students attended the Del Rio schools.

Few did. The majority of the 500 students were in the primary grades. The seventh grade class averaged only eight to 15 students..