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Education in Parker County
Parker County has had a history of promoting education
from its earliest days. Several schools were built in 1856 when
the county was first organized, however they were small with
dirt floors
and split log benches. There were three or four month subscription
schools in 1858, 1860, and 1861 where students had to pay $3.00
per month to attend. Teachers
such as Professor Keeler, Miss Bounds and Miss Mary Ann Dyer (who
became the wife of Colonel Charles Goodnight) taught at these
type of schools. In
1881 Weatherford established the seventh free high school in the
state of Texas.
Parker County has been the home of several colleges over the
years. The first college level classes were taught at Texas
Masonic Institute at Veal's Station. On Jan 2, 1860 an act
approved by the governor established the Texas Masonic Institute. William
G. Veal, associates and successors, first ran the school, then
the Methodist Church; later, by B. W. Akard; afterward, it was
a Presbyterian school known as Parsons College.
As early as 1885, there was an institution called Cleveland College. Later
Cleveland College was called The Training School. Eventually Granbury
College moved into the same building and became Weatherford College.
Other institutes of higher learning in Parker County were Simms
Female Seminary , The Texas Athenaenm, St. Joseph Academy, McCracken
College, Peaster Institute, and The Texas Female Seminary. The
Springtown Male and Female Institute and the College Hill Institute
were located in Springtown. Parker County Institute and Whitt
Seminary were established in Whitt. The links above will give
you more information about education in Parker County.
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