Mantua School
Mantua community was once called Liberty, and a school was built about 1845. It is said that it was the only school known to exist in Collin County before 1850. The Mantua Christian Church was first organized in the home of Carroll McKinney, a son of Collin McKinney, in 1845 and then in 1850 moved into the Liberty School; both the school and church were called Liberty. A Masonic Lodge, sponsored by J. W. Throckmorton, opened the Mantua Seminary in the lodge in 1859. The seminary should not be confused with the public Liberty School.
Miss Betty Haston and M. C. Cunningham were the teachers in 1880; C. D. Page in 1901; N. B. Ledgerwood in 1905; and Walter Davis in 1909.
There were 88 pupils in 1890; 30 male and 32 female students in 1909; 49 students in 1912; and 66 students in 1925. Mrs. Clarence Reaves was named matron for the lunch room at Mantua school in February of 1940. In June of that year Mantua had 51 students.
This school is usually referred to as Mantua. There was a Liberty and a New Liberty School north of Farmersville.
In June of 1940 the Mantua school building was destroyed by fire Saturday night. The origin of the blaze was not determined.
By Donna Brumit Jenkins
July 2, 2009, visit with Mrs. Geraldine Billups
Mrs. Geraldine Billups lived on Fulton Street in Van Alstyne. She was born in 1918. Her father was Virgil Flesher, brother of Clyde Flesher. Don Flesher, who runs the funeral home in Van Alstyne, would be a nephew.
Geraldine started teaching when she was 16 or 17 at Mantua, 1935 or 36. She taught for a couple of years. By 1942 she was married and living in Ft. Worth.
The Mantua School was a one-teacher school house. Geraldine taught all 8 grades. The student body contained about 15 - 20 kids.
The building contained a large main room with a narrow kitchen across the back. The mothers would come in each day to cook lunch for the students. The school had its own garden.
This school might have burned and another one built. The school district consolidated with Anna or Van Alstyne in the 1940s when the state required larger student bodies.
The subjects taught were reading, writing, and arithmetic, with geography and a little science.
The building was used as a church on Sundays whenever a minister was available. There were no other buildings in Mantua at that time.
The school was located on the east side of the current road, north of the town square. It was not as far north as the supposed location of the seminary.
Geraldine lived 1 mile from the Mantua school. She walked to school when she was a teacher. At one time she lived 2 miles from the school.
Taped interview by Joy Gough:
How big a school was at Mantua?
14 to 15 students. Nice building. An old building burned and they built a nice new one and they put a kitchen in the back of it. The women would come in during the day. We had a school garden so we didn’t have to buy much food. And they would come in and cook for us and clean it up and go on.
My room was a great big room and the little kitchen it was narrow it wasn’t about as wide. And the first day it was green or clean
We didn’t have electricity then. But they got me an electric light, like an electric light. It had a windmill type of thing on top of the building to keep it going. If the day didn’t have any wind, we didn’t get any. If it was a hot day, we sweltered.
What years did you teach?
I was 17. I had graduated from high school. I had a cousin that had known there was a vacancy. He called me, or got me word. I don’t think we had telephones then, and got me word to put my application in. I ran in.
And then you had to carry your water to drink because there was no well there. That’s the days when they had these water jugs kind of like a great big vinegar bottle and people would put a toe sack around it and they would wet that and keep it wet for cool water.
Sources:
McKinney Advocate, April 3, 1880
McKinney Democrat, 11 Sep. 1890
McKinney Democrat, 21 Dec. 1901.
Democrat, November 9, 1905
Weekly Democrat Gazette¸ Feb. 4, 1909
Weekly Democrat-Gazette, Dec. 23, 1909
Weekly Democrat Gazette, Oct. 24, 1912
McKinney Examiner, September 3, 1925
The Howe Messenger, Feb. 9, 1940
McKinney Examiner, June 6, 1940
McKinney Examiner, June 13, 1940
Scrapbook of Traditions, Annals, and History of Collin County from 1846 to 1880: The George Pearis Brown Papers.
A History of Collin County, Texas
www.collincountyhistory.com/liberty.
1930 Collin County Soil Conservation Map, U. S. Department of Agriculture
Between the Creeks, Gwen Pettit
Geraldine Billips oral interview, July 2, 2009
Miss Betty Haston and M. C. Cunningham were the teachers in 1880; C. D. Page in 1901; N. B. Ledgerwood in 1905; and Walter Davis in 1909.
There were 88 pupils in 1890; 30 male and 32 female students in 1909; 49 students in 1912; and 66 students in 1925. Mrs. Clarence Reaves was named matron for the lunch room at Mantua school in February of 1940. In June of that year Mantua had 51 students.
This school is usually referred to as Mantua. There was a Liberty and a New Liberty School north of Farmersville.
In June of 1940 the Mantua school building was destroyed by fire Saturday night. The origin of the blaze was not determined.
By Donna Brumit Jenkins
July 2, 2009, visit with Mrs. Geraldine Billups
Mrs. Geraldine Billups lived on Fulton Street in Van Alstyne. She was born in 1918. Her father was Virgil Flesher, brother of Clyde Flesher. Don Flesher, who runs the funeral home in Van Alstyne, would be a nephew.
Geraldine started teaching when she was 16 or 17 at Mantua, 1935 or 36. She taught for a couple of years. By 1942 she was married and living in Ft. Worth.
The Mantua School was a one-teacher school house. Geraldine taught all 8 grades. The student body contained about 15 - 20 kids.
The building contained a large main room with a narrow kitchen across the back. The mothers would come in each day to cook lunch for the students. The school had its own garden.
This school might have burned and another one built. The school district consolidated with Anna or Van Alstyne in the 1940s when the state required larger student bodies.
The subjects taught were reading, writing, and arithmetic, with geography and a little science.
The building was used as a church on Sundays whenever a minister was available. There were no other buildings in Mantua at that time.
The school was located on the east side of the current road, north of the town square. It was not as far north as the supposed location of the seminary.
Geraldine lived 1 mile from the Mantua school. She walked to school when she was a teacher. At one time she lived 2 miles from the school.
Taped interview by Joy Gough:
How big a school was at Mantua?
14 to 15 students. Nice building. An old building burned and they built a nice new one and they put a kitchen in the back of it. The women would come in during the day. We had a school garden so we didn’t have to buy much food. And they would come in and cook for us and clean it up and go on.
My room was a great big room and the little kitchen it was narrow it wasn’t about as wide. And the first day it was green or clean
We didn’t have electricity then. But they got me an electric light, like an electric light. It had a windmill type of thing on top of the building to keep it going. If the day didn’t have any wind, we didn’t get any. If it was a hot day, we sweltered.
What years did you teach?
I was 17. I had graduated from high school. I had a cousin that had known there was a vacancy. He called me, or got me word. I don’t think we had telephones then, and got me word to put my application in. I ran in.
And then you had to carry your water to drink because there was no well there. That’s the days when they had these water jugs kind of like a great big vinegar bottle and people would put a toe sack around it and they would wet that and keep it wet for cool water.
Sources:
McKinney Advocate, April 3, 1880
McKinney Democrat, 11 Sep. 1890
McKinney Democrat, 21 Dec. 1901.
Democrat, November 9, 1905
Weekly Democrat Gazette¸ Feb. 4, 1909
Weekly Democrat-Gazette, Dec. 23, 1909
Weekly Democrat Gazette, Oct. 24, 1912
McKinney Examiner, September 3, 1925
The Howe Messenger, Feb. 9, 1940
McKinney Examiner, June 6, 1940
McKinney Examiner, June 13, 1940
Scrapbook of Traditions, Annals, and History of Collin County from 1846 to 1880: The George Pearis Brown Papers.
A History of Collin County, Texas
www.collincountyhistory.com/liberty.
1930 Collin County Soil Conservation Map, U. S. Department of Agriculture
Between the Creeks, Gwen Pettit
Geraldine Billips oral interview, July 2, 2009
