Page 39 - October Sun Rays_Oct 2015

the government, declaring, “Let the PHOTO BY JAIME CALDER
post office be nameless and be damned!”
Granting their wishes, the United All thirty of the school’s original cast iron and wood desks, purchased from a
States granted their request, and the Sears and Roebuck catalog in 1909, still sit inside the Nameless Schoolhouse. A
Nameless, Texas post office opened in member of the community provided the school with an authentic 1909 American
1880. Unlike Bluffton and Friendship, flag, bearing only 46 stars.
no dramatic end would be in store for
Nameless. Rather, time and growing Towns, like people, are complex. Just part of our local history, informing our
local communities resulted in the slow as the name on a tombstone can never understanding of our forefathers as well
absorption of the tiny town into other tell you about the life it honors, a mark as ourselves. And while artifacts and
municipalities. With their population on a map is an insufficient epitaph for stories cannot restore life to these bygone
peaking at roughly 50, mail began to be the community which once lived, loved towns, preserving their memories might
rerouted through Leander. Mr. Briggs’ and left that place. Their stories are just keep these ghosts’ hearts beating.
shop was sold to private ownership, and
the Nameless Schoolhouse – opened in OCTOBER 2015 SUNRAYS | 37
1909 – taught its final class in 1945.

Such could have been the end of
Nameless, were it not for the interest
of a small group of locals determined
to keep their history alive. Established
in 2007, the Friends of the Nameless
Schoolhouse committed themselves
to restoring the one-room building
their forefathers had once attended,
petitioning for grants from the LCRA
and the Texas Historical Commission.
Rose Turner, a former student of the
school, and her husband Bill donated
2.5 acres to the effort. A new foundation,
tin roof and coat of paint were all applied
to the building. Inside, the 30 original
wood-and-iron desks from Sears and
Roebuck were restored to their original
condition, and an authentic 1909 flag
was donated to the school.

“The school was the heart of the
community,” says Genny Kercheville,
a Friends of the Nameless Schoolhouse
member and author of two books on the
history of the area. “Church services, town
meetings and community celebrations
were all held here. It was an essential
part of life in Nameless that anchored
families here.” With the descendents of
these families still in the area, the revival
of the Nameless Schoolhouse has been an
appreciated effort valued by the entire
community. Completely restored in 2009,
the school now plays host to a quilting
group, family reunions and semi-annual
BBQ and party.

ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG