{"nrhp_refnum":"05000391","name":"Lower South Grape Creek School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"10273 E US 290","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fredericksburg","county":"Gillespie County","state":"TX","lat":30.224951201000067,"lon":-98.72846855799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural limestone schoolhouse complex on 1.1 acres south of US Highway 290, about eleven miles east of Fredericksburg in Gillespie County, Texas. The one-room school was built in 1901, expanded in 1936, and joined by ancillary buildings and structures through 1953.","why_significant":"The complex is nominated under Criterion A in the area of Education at the local level. It has changed little since the school closed in 1960 and conveys the life of a rural German-settled school community. Gillespie County is described as having perhaps the most intact collection of rural schoolhouses in Texas.","narrative":"Lower South Grape Creek School is a small rural school complex about eleven miles east of Fredericksburg, Texas, in Gillespie County. Its centerpiece is a 31 by 18 foot limestone schoolhouse built in 1901, with a wooden bell tower, a metal roof and an 18 by 20 foot frame addition made in 1936. A c. 1940 garage, a well house, a 1953 restroom building and an early 1940s swing set also contribute to the site. The school grew out of an 1871 log schoolhouse on another site and became an independent district in 1889. Enrollment peaked at eighty-two students in 1916-17, and the school consolidated with Fredericksburg in 1960. The grounds have since served as a community gathering place. Little has changed since then, so the property shows how a German-settled farming community educated its children in the early twentieth century. It is significant locally in the area of education, with a period of significance from 1901 to 1955.","period_of_significance":"1901-1955","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Currently used as a community clubhouse; the schoolhouse was rehabilitated and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1994.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.130178-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/9721/40972102/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/05000391.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000391/18618c95f9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000391/18618c95f9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LowerSouthGrapeSchool1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Renelibrary</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LowerSouthGrapeSchool1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972102","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_South_Grape_Creek_School_(Gillespie_County,_Texas)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6693834"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/gillespie-county/lower-south-grape-creek-school-05000391/"}