Waddill School
Waddill School
Church and Lamar Streets
McKinney, Texas
According to Roy Hall, the Waddill School was the “first real school in McKinney.” The school opened in 1856 in a house on the Plemmons lot near the Methodist Church. The teacher was Anson Mills who left West Point because he had failed to maintain his mathematics grade. R. L. Waddill hired Mills to organize a free school. Mills sailed on a steamboat to Shreveport and walked the rest of the way to McKinney. The school subjects were the same subjects taught in the average high school. Mills taught at the school for one year before moving to El Paso where he became the district surveyor. His stint in McKinney is not mentioned in his biography in the Texas Handbook. At times Anson Mills helped at the Wilmeth School.
In 1858 R. L. Waddill employed A. L. Darnall, from Bethany College in West Virginia to teach school in a small building in his back yard. The building was north of the Methodist Church. Darnall became the teacher after Anson Mills left. Darnell taught at the free school until 1861. He later edited a paper in McKinney.
Church and Lamar Streets
McKinney, Texas
According to Roy Hall, the Waddill School was the “first real school in McKinney.” The school opened in 1856 in a house on the Plemmons lot near the Methodist Church. The teacher was Anson Mills who left West Point because he had failed to maintain his mathematics grade. R. L. Waddill hired Mills to organize a free school. Mills sailed on a steamboat to Shreveport and walked the rest of the way to McKinney. The school subjects were the same subjects taught in the average high school. Mills taught at the school for one year before moving to El Paso where he became the district surveyor. His stint in McKinney is not mentioned in his biography in the Texas Handbook. At times Anson Mills helped at the Wilmeth School.
In 1858 R. L. Waddill employed A. L. Darnall, from Bethany College in West Virginia to teach school in a small building in his back yard. The building was north of the Methodist Church. Darnall became the teacher after Anson Mills left. Darnell taught at the free school until 1861. He later edited a paper in McKinney.
