Rough and Ready School
Rough and Ready School #87
Pleasant Grove
FM 544 at FM 1378
Wylie, Texas
The Rough and Ready School was also known at Pleasant Grove School #87. It started about 1875 and consolidated with the Wylie School District around 1900. It was located at the southeast corner of the Burch property near the intersection of FM 544 and FM 1378.
The school had only one building. Teachers at Rough and Ready included Miss Fannie, McMurray, 1879-80, J. T. Bell in 1880, Harry Bell in 1880-81 and Miss Rose Marriott. In 1890 the school had 49 students and 31 students in 1891 and 19 in 1892. Prof. L. C. Burch conducted a summer school at the school in 1892.
Historical Sketches No. 17 from The Wyle News in 1971 gives the boundary line of District No. 87. Only one school was established in that district. It was located in the southeastern corner of the Burch land and its efficient name was Pleasant Grove.
When the building was completed, a night meeting was held to celebrate the occasion. During the meeting a fight developed in the overflow crowd outside. It soon grew into a “free-for-all.” Someone remarked that the place was rough all ready, and ever after that the school was called “Rough and Ready.”
There is no deed to the Pleasant Grove School Ground on record. There is reason to believe that the school was established as early as 1876. There are those who remember that Miss Fannie McMurray taught there for the term of 1879-80.
Among the papers of W. H. Kilgore is a contract signed by the chairman of the Pleasant Grove board of trustees and by Harry Bell as said teacher for the school for the term of 1880-81.
The term of the contract allowed Mr. Bell $1.50 per month per pupil as long as the state per capital appropriation would allow, plus $1.00 per month for each over and under age pupil. This tuition was paid by the parents of the children involved. The per capita appropriation for that year was $3.00. No age limits were fixed at that time, but in 1881-82 the age limits were fixed by law from 8 to 14 years, based upon the general practice of the public schools throughout the state.
The children who lived near the schools usually started at the age of 5, and some 15- and 16-year-olds attended. This usually provided a three-months term. A fourth month was added by tuition paid by each student. If the number of students was too small to provide sufficient funds the patrons took turns in keeping the teacher in their homes as a guest.
By the middle 1880s the current curriculum of the Rough and Ready school had expanded to include grammar, higher geography, U. S. History, fourth and fifth grade readers and third part arithmetic….
School activities included a literary and a debating society. The literary program consisted of the recital programs of poems which the students had remembered. Each year “Horatio at the Bridge,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” “The Pied Piper,” and others of equal caliber were worn threadbare. The subjects for debate were also weighty.
Transportation, to and from school, was by foot. In winter, if a sudden blizzard, a heavy rain or snow should occur, it was not unusual for all, but the nearby students to divide into two groups of ten to fifteen or more per group, and one group would spend the night in the W. H. Kilgore home and the other in the Burch home. Neither house was large, but the children were packed in.
Although Rough and Ready was supposed to be on the wrong side of the tracks, it was the first of the outlying districts to transfer into Nickleville, the first to vote to become a part of the Wylie School and to vote a tax for school purposes.
Pleasant Grove
FM 544 at FM 1378
Wylie, Texas
The Rough and Ready School was also known at Pleasant Grove School #87. It started about 1875 and consolidated with the Wylie School District around 1900. It was located at the southeast corner of the Burch property near the intersection of FM 544 and FM 1378.
The school had only one building. Teachers at Rough and Ready included Miss Fannie, McMurray, 1879-80, J. T. Bell in 1880, Harry Bell in 1880-81 and Miss Rose Marriott. In 1890 the school had 49 students and 31 students in 1891 and 19 in 1892. Prof. L. C. Burch conducted a summer school at the school in 1892.
Historical Sketches No. 17 from The Wyle News in 1971 gives the boundary line of District No. 87. Only one school was established in that district. It was located in the southeastern corner of the Burch land and its efficient name was Pleasant Grove.
When the building was completed, a night meeting was held to celebrate the occasion. During the meeting a fight developed in the overflow crowd outside. It soon grew into a “free-for-all.” Someone remarked that the place was rough all ready, and ever after that the school was called “Rough and Ready.”
There is no deed to the Pleasant Grove School Ground on record. There is reason to believe that the school was established as early as 1876. There are those who remember that Miss Fannie McMurray taught there for the term of 1879-80.
Among the papers of W. H. Kilgore is a contract signed by the chairman of the Pleasant Grove board of trustees and by Harry Bell as said teacher for the school for the term of 1880-81.
The term of the contract allowed Mr. Bell $1.50 per month per pupil as long as the state per capital appropriation would allow, plus $1.00 per month for each over and under age pupil. This tuition was paid by the parents of the children involved. The per capita appropriation for that year was $3.00. No age limits were fixed at that time, but in 1881-82 the age limits were fixed by law from 8 to 14 years, based upon the general practice of the public schools throughout the state.
The children who lived near the schools usually started at the age of 5, and some 15- and 16-year-olds attended. This usually provided a three-months term. A fourth month was added by tuition paid by each student. If the number of students was too small to provide sufficient funds the patrons took turns in keeping the teacher in their homes as a guest.
By the middle 1880s the current curriculum of the Rough and Ready school had expanded to include grammar, higher geography, U. S. History, fourth and fifth grade readers and third part arithmetic….
School activities included a literary and a debating society. The literary program consisted of the recital programs of poems which the students had remembered. Each year “Horatio at the Bridge,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” “The Pied Piper,” and others of equal caliber were worn threadbare. The subjects for debate were also weighty.
Transportation, to and from school, was by foot. In winter, if a sudden blizzard, a heavy rain or snow should occur, it was not unusual for all, but the nearby students to divide into two groups of ten to fifteen or more per group, and one group would spend the night in the W. H. Kilgore home and the other in the Burch home. Neither house was large, but the children were packed in.
Although Rough and Ready was supposed to be on the wrong side of the tracks, it was the first of the outlying districts to transfer into Nickleville, the first to vote to become a part of the Wylie School and to vote a tax for school purposes.
