Bethel School - Bethel, TX
N 31° 55.319 W 095° 55.513
15R E 223410 N 3535523
The old Bethel School is now used as a community center, standing across the highway from the Cayuga school district that absorbed it, in the old Bethel community in Anderson County, TX.
Waymark Code: WM11HWY
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/29/2019
Views: 3
While the physical address is technically part of the Tennessee Colony ZIP code, Bethel is some miles away. A 1985 Texas Historical Marker at the still-active Bethel Cemetery, just up the highway, provides some community background along with significant events at the cemetery:
Originally part of a Mexican land grant awarded to Jose de Jesus Grande in 1828, land at this site was later granted to early area settler Henry Rampy. Rampy, who had come to this part of Texas in 1848, deeded 5 acres of his land in 1859 for a community cemetery and church.
The earliest significant settlement of pioneers in the Bethel area came in 1846. By 1852, the community was thriving and a post office was established. The Bethel Cemetery was used largely by residents of the town and by settlers in other parts of Anderson and Henderson Counties. The earliest marked grave, that of M.B. Hodge, is dated 1862. Her husband, the Rev. Robert Hodge, who also is buried here, was a pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian minister. He was instrumental in the founding of the Science Hill academy, an important early educational institution in this part of the state. Other early settlers and their descendants are buried here, as are a number of Confederate veterans.
The Bethel community began to decline after the end of the Civil War and was largely gone by the time the post office was discontinued in 1914. This cemetery is the only significant remnant of the once-thriving Anderson County community.
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There are still signs at both ends of the community along US 287, simply saying "Bethel", and the Cayuga ISD is right across the highway from here. This 1924 school building was here long after Bethel's heyday, and it was presumably put out to pasture after the Bethel school district was absorbed by Cayuga in the 1950s. The grounds are well-kept, and while the school could use a bit of TLC, it's in pretty good condition.