Masonic Home Independent School District
Masonic Home Independent School District | |
---|---|
Address | |
3600 Wichita Street
United States | |
Coordinates | 32°42′32″N 97°16′46″W / 32.70889°N 97.27944°W |
District information | |
Grades | K-12 |
Established | 1913 |
Closed | 2005 (dissolved) |
Other information | |
Merged into | Fort Worth ISD |
Notes | School district for orphans, of notable historical interest |
Website | Masonic Home and School of Texas - History |
Masonic Widows and Orphans Home Historic District | |
Location | Roughly bounded by E. Berry St., Mitchell Blvd., Vaughn St., Wichita St. and Glen Garden Dr., Fort Worth, Texas |
Area | 206 acres (83 ha) |
Built | 1910 |
Architect | Wiley G. Clarkson, Herbert M. Greene |
Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 91002022[1] |
Added to NRHP | January 28, 1992 |
The Masonic Home and School of Texas was a home for widows and orphans in what is now Fort Worth, Texas from 1889 to 2005. The first superintendent was Dr. Frank Rainey of Austin, Texas.[2] Starting in 1913, it had its own school system, the Masonic Home Independent School District.[3][4] Orphan Blake R. Van Leer was the only boy in 1909, went on to become president of Georgia Tech and civil rights advocate.[5]
The campus included buildings designed by architects Wiley G. Clarkson of Fort Worth and Herbert M. Greene of Dallas, and it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district in 1992.[2][6]
Early history
[edit]In 1899, the Masons opened a home for widows and orphans of Masons. Later, widows moved to a location in nearby Arlington (closed nearly a century later during the construction of Cowboys Stadium) and the home was opened to non-Masonic orphans. On January 10, 1913, under laws passed in 1905 allowing orphanages to organize their own schools, the Texas State Board of Education created the Masonic Home Independent School District.[3][4]
The Texas Historical Commission recognizes the fraternal organization foundation as a historic district geographically in the southeast quadrant of Tarrant County, Texas lineate to U.S. Route 287 in Texas.[7]
Football glory
[edit]Its 1930s football teams are the subject of a 2007 book by Jim Dent, Twelve Mighty Orphans.[8] In 1995, the Masonic Home won the TAPPS Class 1A State Football Championship in Groesbeck, Texas. under the coaches Tom Hines and Arthur (Buster) Bone, also an ex-student.
The book would later be adapted into a film, 12 Mighty Orphans, in 2021.
Later years
[edit]The school closed in 2005 due to lack of funding because of a 6.9 million dollar sexual abuse settlement.[9] The school district merged with the Fort Worth Independent School District and the buildings and grounds were sold to a private developer.[4] The school's chapel is now a private facility known as the Bell Tower Chapel, a popular wedding location.[10]
See also
[edit]- Grand Lodge of Texas
- List of school districts in Texas
- University Interscholastic League
- F. W. Woolworth Building (Fort Worth, Texas), also by architect Wiley G. Clarkson
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Tarrant County, Texas
References
[edit]- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
- ^ a b "Masonic Home and School of Texas Historic Marker". 1999. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
- ^ a b Neeley, Shirley, J.Closing of Masonic Home Independent School District Archived 2009-03-25 at the Wayback Machine, Texas Education Agency, retrieved 2008-04-10
- ^ a b c Masonic Home and School of Texas - History, retrieved 2008-04-10 Archived March 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Beyond the Chain Link Lay the Kingdom of the Mighty Mites". 1909. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
- ^ "Masonic Widows and Orphans Home Historic District ~ NHRP: 91002022". National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Masonic Widows and Orphans Home Historic District ~ THS Atlas No. 2091002022" [Texas Historic Sites Atlas]. Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. January 28, 1992.
- ^ Dent, Jim, Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football, 2007, ISBN 0-312-30872-8. Amazon.com, books.google.com, links retrieved 2008-04-10
- ^ "Sex abuse settlements may lead Masonic school to close". September 19, 2002.
- ^ "Home". belltowerfortworth.com.
External links
[edit]- School districts in Tarrant County, Texas
- Former school districts in Texas
- Historic districts in Texas
- Masonic educational institutions in the United States
- School districts in Fort Worth, Texas
- School districts disestablished in 2005
- National Register of Historic Places in Fort Worth, Texas
- 2005 disestablishments in Texas
- Freemasonry in Texas