Wichita Falls Public School Bell - Wichita Falls, TX
N 33° 54.252 W 098° 29.807
14S E 546523 N 3751648
The old Wichita Falls Public School bell is on display in front of the old Wichita Falls High School building at 1104 Broad St, Wichita Falls, TX. This building is now used by the Wichita Falls ISD.
Waymark Code: WMVYZJ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 06/13/2017
Views: 2
This bell looks to have been produced by the second Meneely Bell Foundry, "Meneely & Co.", out of West Troy, NY, "1891", as indicated on the bell and the yoke. The reverse of the bell and yoke have no text, but on the front is:
Public School
Wichita Falls, Tex. 1890.
Otis T. Bacon, Mayor.
Council.
J.C. Ziegler,
R.E. Huff,
C.W. Word,
J.F. Keller,
J.F. Edwards.
While it doesn't say anything about the bell, a 1981 Texas Historical Marker on the building provides some history:
Although private junior colleges were operating in Texas before the 1900s, similar public institutions were not started until the 1920s. The first, Wichita Falls Junior College, began here in 1922, seven years before the adoption of related state legislation. Developed as part of the city school system under the direction of superintendent Randolph Lee Clark, it opened with fifty-five students, ten teachers, and a curriculum of seven subjects. Early classes were held in the high school building at this site.
Planning for a separate junior college campus began in 1928 when Burkburnett educational philanthropists John G. Hardin and his wife Mary offered a matching grant for construction of new facilities. Despite the economic depression of the 1930s, the necessary funds were raised and another site was donated by local residents W.B. Hamilton and N.H. Martin. Renamed Hardin Junior College in honor of the school's benefactors, the institution was relocated by 1938 when the new buildings were completed.
In the 1940s the school became a state-supported four-year college. Renamed Midwestern University in 1950, it has been an instrumental factor in the growth and development of Wichita Falls.
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