Lovejoy School History

THE HISTORY OF LOVEJOY

 In the early 1900’s there were small one-room school houses where many farm children attended school. One school was called Lick Springs and one was called Forest Grove.

In 1917, the Lovejoy Common School District was established when Forest Grove and Lick Springs schools decided to form one school.  A brand new building was built with four classrooms.  When it was built, it was painted white. The building was not painted red until the 1970’s. It did not have a cafeteria or an indoor restroom.  The kids did not ride buses; they came to school on horses or walked.

Many people have cared about Lovejoy school and have worked to make it better for the children. One of those people was a lady named Mrs. Lovejoy. 

Mrs. Lovejoy lived in McKinney and was part of a group called the Owl Club. The Owl Club wanted to help the small schools by providing books for the kids. Mrs. Lovejoy was part of the committee that set up nine traveling libraries.  Each library had 50 books.  Mrs. Lovejoy would visit each of the small schools and bring them a crate with 50 books, which they could keep for 3 months.  Then, she would come to the school and pick up the books and give the school a crate with another 50 books. Because of her dedication, Mrs. Lovejoy opened up a new world for the children with the books she brought to them.

 When she died in 1939, Mrs. Lovejoy left the school one thousand dollars; part of which was used to lay the first concrete sidewalk at the school and purchase a piano, as well as a record player.

 In 1983, the community wanted to make sure the school and its history would be around to pass on to future generations. They asked the State of Texas to place a historical marker by the building. The marker tells the proud history of Lovejoy School.

For more interesting facts about Lovejoy click on the links on the left.