{"nrhp_refnum":"78002937","name":"Leesville Schoolhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Leesville off TX 80","address_restricted":false,"city":"Leesville","county":"Gonzales County","state":"TX","lat":29.406656905000034,"lon":-97.73289056599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-room red brick schoolhouse on the east bank of Oneal Creek, east of Leesville off Farm Road 1682 in Gonzales County, Texas, built about 1870 using brick from a local kiln.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an excellent example of the one-room vernacular schoolhouse of the Texas frontier. It is also one of the few structures left from the original Leesville townsite, which was largely destroyed by a 1936 flood. It is described as a vital link to the community's early history and education.","narrative":"Built about 1870 of red brick made at a nearby kiln, this one-room schoolhouse sits on the east bank of Oneal Creek in Gonzales County, Texas. It first served as the Leesburg Male and Female Institute and educated young people in the community, later renamed Leesville, until a new school opened in 1918. The east front has a double door flanked by windows under flat arches, and the gable roof originally carried wood shingles, later replaced by corrugated tin. Inside, rows of small desks seated two children each. A 1936 flood destroyed most of the town, but the schoolhouse survived, and the community rebuilt a few miles away on higher ground. The building later held storage and a small W.P.A. kitchen, then stood mostly empty. Its significance rests on its typical frontier school form and its role as one of the few remaining reminders of the original Leesville settlement. A local group raised money to restore it as a museum and meeting place.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular one-room schoolhouse","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant since World War II apart from a three-month period housing a family; restoration was planned, with a local group raising funds to turn it into a museum and community meeting place. Walls were partly collapsed, with most of the west wall down.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.206594-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/9721/40972151/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/78002937.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002937/022bc69d76-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002937/022bc69d76-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Ranped","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leesville_School_House_with_Historical_Marker.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ranped</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leesville_School_House_with_Historical_Marker.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972151","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002080"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/gonzales-county/leesville-schoolhouse-78002937/"}