The Morris Ranch Schoolhouse is a

ranch school A ranch school is a type of school used in rural areas of the Western United States. History The ranch school movement began in the Western United States in the early 1900s as a way to educate children who lived on ranches in remote and rural area ...

located on Morris Ranch Road, southwest of Fredericksburg in Gillespie County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. It was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1983, and was designated a

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL) is a designation awarded by the Texas Historical Commission for historically and architecturally significant properties in the U.S. state of Texas. RTHL is a legal designation and the highest honor the st ...

in 1981. Designed by Alfred Giles, who also designed the 1882 Fredericksburg Memorial Library, the schoolhouse was built in 1893. Winning thoroughbred trainer

Max Hirsch Maximilian Justice "Max" Hirsch (July 12, 1880 - April 3, 1969) was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Born in Fredericksburg, Texas, and raised Roman Catholic, Hirsch became one of the most successful trainers in Thorough ...

began his career on Morris Ranch and attended classes in the schoolhouse.

Schoolhouse

The schoolhouse was originally part of the larger Morris Ranch, which was established in 1856 for horse breeding. After the ranch was converted into a thoroughbred horse breeding community, the schoolhouse was added to the property in 1893. The structure was built with a steeple and bell, doubling as a church. It was used by Episcopal,

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

congregations. As a youth while a trainer at the ranch,

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

thoroughbred trainer

attended both school and church at the schoolhouse. In 1931, the school on its separate was deeded to Gillespie County. The school belonged to Morris Ranch Consolidated Common School District no. 40. In 1962,

Fredericksburg Independent School District Fredericksburg Independent School District is a public school district based in Fredericksburg, Texas (USA). In addition to Fredericksburg, the district serves the unincorporated communities of Stonewall, Luckenbach, Willow City, and Alber ...

absorbed the Morris Ranch school district. The schoolhouse is currently under private ownership and not in use by the public.

Design

The 1893 schoolhouse was designed by

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

architect Alfred Giles in the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...

style of native limestone. By the time of this project, Giles had already designed or remodeled San Antonio's old courthouse, the 1882 Gillespie County courthouse (now the Fredericksburg Memorial Library), the 1884 Wilson County Courthouse, the 1886 Presidio County Courthouse, and the 1886 Kerr County courthouse. He had also, by this point in his career, designed a number of historic homes in San Antonio. The one-story schoolhouse was designed in a

Cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

shape, an architectural style named for its resemblance to a cross. It rests on a foundation of ashlar limestone blocks, with smooth limestone block walls. Cornerstones at each corner project outward. The center section, which divides two east-west facing sections, has an entrance facing southward, with sharply inclined

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s higher than the other two wing sections of the house. The south section has a covered entrance way on its east side, and an identical covered entrance way on its west side. The middle center section is topped by a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

and served as a church and community gathering hall. The fronts of both the south and the west of the middle section each has two stone chimneys. The identical east and west gabled wings were reserved for the school classrooms. Window designs on the ends of all the gables were repeated triple windows topped by a singular rectangle opening. Indoor plumbing was installed in 1949.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris Ranch Schoolhouse Defunct schools in Gillespie County, Texas National Register of Historic Places in Gillespie County, Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Ranch schools

Schoolhouse

Design

See also

References

External links