Lower South Grape Creek School
Approximate location: the National Park Service places this pin arbitrarily within the property, not at a surveyed point (stated accuracy ±12 m).
Why it's listed
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.
Significance in brief: 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.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 05000391, listed May 6, 2005. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 10273 E US 290, Fredericksburg |
|---|---|
| County | Gillespie County |
| Listed | May 6, 2005 |
| Reference number | 05000391 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1901-1955 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Education |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Currently used as a community clubhouse; the schoolhouse was rehabilitated and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1994. |
| Acreage | 1.1 |
| Coordinates | 30.22495, -98.72847 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 05000391.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6693834
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.