Luckenbach School - Fredericksburg, TX - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

While the school can be visited at any time during daylight hours, one will need to make arrangements with the Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools for group tours and events. The Luckenbach Community Club meets monthly on the first and second Friday evenings and fourth Sunday afternoon to play cards. The building is also a site for precinct voting for state and federal elections.

A Texas Historical Marker, placed in 1982, stands in front of the school and provides some background:

In 1855 pioneer area settler Peter Pehl deeded a two-acre tract of land at this site for the construction of a schoolhouse to serve the Luckenbach School District. Herman Toepperwein was the first teacher in the log building, which was used until 1905 when the present native limestone schoolhouse was completed. The Luckenbach School remained in operation until 1964, when it was consolidated with the Fredericksburg District.

The Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools have an excellent complementary page with the school's history (edited):

On July 22, 1855, two acres of land along Grape Creek was purchased from Peter Pehl for $4. After the land was acquired, the men in the community gathered to build a 16' x 15' log cabin schoolhouse. Due to an increase in the student population by 1881, the building became too small to accommodate all the children, so a 10' addition of native limestone was built. The Luckenbach School was designated as District #3. Families who settled in the community paid one dollar per year for their children to attend school. Many of these families are still represented in the area today.

During the 1860's, a one-room stone teacherage was built. The floors were made of 16" wide planks from Indianola, TX, and the rafters were hand-hewn. Another room was later added to join the teacher's house to the school. In 1905, a new 25' x 34' schoolhouse was built of native limestone from the Pehl property, some of them measuring 22" x 54". An old-fashioned school bell summoned the children to class at 9 AM, six days a week, with the boys lining up on the left and the girls on the right. Older students would help the younger ones with grammar and math. Some of the creative games played during recess were Andy-over, stink base, dodge ball, drop the hankie, and kick the can. At 4 PM, at the end of the day, the older boys had to bring in firewood for the stove, and the girls had to sweep the floor. First graders were responsible for cleaning the erasers.

In 1949, due to the passage of the Gilmer-Aiken Law, which limited the number of students per teacher, Luckenbach became a two-teacher school, with grades one through eight. During that year, another room, measuring 18' x 24', and constructed of hollow tile, was added to the school building.

In 1964, the Luckenbach School District was consolidated with the Fredericksburg School District.

Street address: 3566 Luckenbach Rd Fredericksburg, TX USA 78624 County / Borough / Parish: Gillespie Year listed: 2005 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event Periods of significance: 1950-1974, 1925-1949, 1900-1924 Historic function: Education Current function: Social Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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