“Footprints of Fayette”

Second Lives of Surviving Rural Schools in Fayette County

By Carolyn Heinsohn

Early Anglo settlers in Fayette County were aware that education was important for their children, but at the time, there were no means to provide them with anything more than a very basic form of home schooling. David Breeding, who lived north of present-day Fayetteville, established the first log school in Fayette County in 1834. In a few short years, an increasing number of schools were being established in the county. There were several private academies in La Grange and Fayetteville, as well as Rutersville Col- lege, the first Protestant college in Texas, that was chartered in 1840.