Preserving the Hovey School
By Jim Hammond
B
y the time the Hovey school was
moved to Fort Stockton the town
of Hovey was a ghost town.
Hovey, named after a Kansas City,
Mexico and Orient Railroad official,
was established in 1910. The town, sit-
uated on the tracks about 40 miles west
of Fort Stockton, included a railroad
depot and boarding rooms for railroad
workers. By 1913 the
townspeople erected a
post office that also func-
tioned as a general store,
gas pump, Ranchers’
Headquarters
and
schoolhouse. It burned
three years after con-
struction. Sitting on the
Pecos and Brewster
County line the town
enjoyed a slow growth of
folks, reaching 25 resi-
dents by 1930.
Education in Texas
has always been a con-
troversial issue. Even in early Texas
history education was in the forefront
of politics. The Texas Declaration of
Independence denounces Mexico for
failing to establish public education in
the state. President Houston chartered
a few private schools early in his
administration. The problem the new
republic had was lack of funds and
Houston's later disinterest. It wasn’t
until the Father of Education in Texas,
Mirabeau B. Lamar, requested the
establishment of a public school system
in 1838 that congress took action.
Laws passed over the next few years
brought public education to the citi-
zens. The counties received land and
control over the schools. The school
system, although established, still
teetered on the verge of collapse.
The annexation of Texas into the
United States and the Constitution of
1845 spelled out funding measures for
the school system. The state would
reserve no less than 10 percent of tax
revenue for the schools. The Civil War
and reconstruction took a severe toll
on all aspects of Texas and things
moved slowly for a while. Finally, in
1871, Governor Edmund J. Davis
signed the bill that inaugurated the
public school system in the Lone Star
24
Cenizo
State. The bill allowed for the estab-
lishment of a state board of education
which consisted only of the governor,
attorney general and the superintend-
ent of public education. The measure
caused bickering within the Texas
political machine but the law stayed on
the books.
As settlers pushed their way west
and into the vast openness of the
Trans-Pecos, the need for education
became ever more prominent as new
towns were being established every-
where. Originally many of the teachers
doubled as preachers, Sunday school
teachers and homemakers. The job
only paid what could be gathered by
the students’ parents and often teach-
ers did not receive pay for long peri-
ods. As the frontier became settled, the
demand for more permanent teachers
rose. Many young women looking for
a different life moved west. Research
suggests that between annexation and
the Civil War nearly 800 single women
moved onto the frontier, many of
whom became teachers. These women
were typically young, some only six-
teen at the time of their first semester.
By 1880, 25 percent of all adult white
American females had taught school at
some point in their lives.
Supplies tended to be scarce.
Chalkboards were never taken for
granted and most would settle for a
small piece of slate. More often than
not students would be required to take
turns using the supplies to finish their
work. As the 19th century rolled into
the 20th, the frontier became more
civilized. Supplies were easier to come
First Quarter 2014
by, there were fewer daily dangers to
be faced a more regular paycheck
became normal.
The school year was short com-
pared to today. Schools typically fol-
lowed the farming season. Students
had greater responsibilities at home,
having to help plant and harvest a
crop, feed and water animals and milk
cows. The girls had to help take care of
a baby sibling, clean and assist with
laundry. Often classes were later in the
day to give kids time to get to school.
This held true especially in in the more
rural areas. Traveling just five miles to
school could take most of morning,
especially for the younger students.
The school bus didn’t come into com-
mon use until the 1930s.
Like countless other little communi-
ties, Hovey saw the need to erect a
frame school building, with simple
glass-paned windows with hemmed
burlap drapes. The drapes displayed
the local ranchers’ brands. The class-
room was a large front room that used
a wood-burning heater. The teacher
had a personal bedroom next to the
kitchen, each with their own source of
heat. The school only employed one
teacher who taught grades one
through seven. Most of the students
were children of local ranchers or
employees of the railroad. There was
a hand pump for water and behind the
school was a two-hole outhouse.
On many occasions the building
was used for other meetings. A con-
crete slab was poured out front and
used as a dance floor for waltzes and
the Texas Two-Step. As education
comes in different forms, many learned
to dance in front of the school. In later
years the school served as a place to
gather for civic events.
The railroad stopped running
through Hovey. As roads and automo-
biles improved students began attend-
ing Alpine schools. The Hovey school
stood empty for a time, no more stu-
dents, no more classes. It became a
gathering place for the local ranchers.
What began as a discussion over a
game of “42” soon turned the friendly
game of dominoes into a monthly
event. The “Hovey 42 Party” contin-
ued from the ‘40s into the ‘70s and
those attending were serious about
their game, in which players take tricks
like in hearts or bridge.
The town slowly dwindled; as time
passed the buildings began to wear. In
1987 a few citizens came together and
moved the school to Fort
Stockton on the south-
east side of the parade
grounds. It overlooks the
Comanche Springs pool,
overlooking children at
play as it did so many
years ago.
The Trans-Pecos is
dotted with dozens of
abandoned towns. Ghost
town is what they are
called, but many no
longer resemble a town.
Most have no buildings
at all, since they were
torn down and reused on
a ranch or just left to the elements to
slowly disappear in the desert winds.
Today, cars blow by these stops, in a
hurry to get where they’re going.
Hovey doesn’t sit on any major road so
it’s easy to miss. Today, a few buildings
stand alongside tattered windmills as
lonely sentinels, defiant to the wind
and welcoming to those passing souls
oblivious to their fading history.