Woodward School (1910-1932)

Woodward School (1910-1932)

The Woodward School was opened by Harris County Common School District No. 35 for the 1910-1911 school year.

The school was located at Moonshine Hill, on an acre of land donated by the Producers Oil Company. The school was named for Emerson Francis Woodward, the Assistant Superintendent for the Producers Oil Company's southern division who also approved the land donation for the school. He was also the founder of the Houston Gun Club and was once listed as Houston's richest resident. His brother, William Zane Woodward, served on school boards for Harris County Common School District No. 28 and District No. 50.

It was a two-room, wooden schoolhouse that held grades 1-7.

It turns out that when the school was built by District No. 35, it had inadvertently been built within the boundaries of District No. 28. In 1914, the Harris County Commissioners ordered that ownership of the school be transferred to District No. 28 beginning with the 1914-1915 school year.

This school was rarely called the Woodward School. It was frequently just referred to as the Hill School since it was located at Moonshine Hill.

In 1917, the wooden schoolhouse was replaced with a masonry structure, which was designed by Oscar F. Holcombe (a future mayor of Houston). The old wooden structure was moved across the railroad tracks and used as an additional building for the Colored School.

The school was closed at the end of the 1931-1932 school year due to low enrollment.