Eola

Eola, a rural farm community of 300 residents is located 18 miles east of San Angelo.

In 1890 Concho County began selling public school lands for fifty cents and acre to encourage settlement.  The first recorded settlers in the area that would become Eola were Asher L. Lollar and his wife Lizzie Leon Hollman.  The couple married at the Coleman County Courthouse, January 26th, in 1898 and in February of the same year,they loaded their belongings (a bed, two chairs, a table and a stove) into a covered wagon and moved to Concho County.  They selected a site three and one-half miles southeast of present day Eola, where they settled, camping in the bed of their wagon until lumber could be brought from Ballinger to build a home.  Within a year, two or three more families arrived.  Settlers took turns going to Paint Rock for mail and supplies.  At the turn of the century, the settlers hired a carrier to bring mail from San Angelo twice a week.  In 1901, the new settlement received a post office under the original town name of Jordan, Texas.  The name was changed to Eola in 1903, reportedly because there was already a post office by the name of Jordan.  The name Eola came from a nearby Aeolus Creek.  Eola's first store was built in 1902, followed by others in 1904, 1908 and 1909. The town grew from four families in 1902, to a population of 25, in 1914, reaching its peak population of 350, in 1947.

FAST FORWARD TO 2006:

April 15, 2006 Eola School House - Listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior...

*Bricks & Mortar

The story of Eola School is one of two building built in different economic times--one in the Roaring Twenties and one in the Great Depression. The wide hall running east to west joins the two--creating one building.

The $20,000. approved in the mid February 1928 bond election financed the first building. In March, Tom Homesley drilled the school water well for $150.00.  When school closed in May for the summer, the old 4-room, 2-story frame building was demolished. Lumber was salvaged to be used for forms for the concrete work in the new building. Construction began May 22nd and building was finished in mid September. Seventy-five men built eight rooms, an office and auditorium during those four months.

The 1940 addition was financed with federal and local funds--$60,000 Work Projects Administration (WPA) funds and $15,000 Eola School District funds.  The project started October 24, 1939 and was completed October 5, 1940. WPA records specify the construction of a secondary school, gymnasium and 22,119 gallon concrete water storage tank. The secondary school was to be attached to the west end of the existing building. The playground would be enclosed with a rock fence. The August 25, 1940 San Angelo Standard-Times announced the opening of school on September 5 and stated the new gym, 3 classrooms, a library-study hall and rest rooms were finished.

Today the Eola School stands as a monument to those children, teachers and administrators whose lives intermingled in that business called education. The listing in the National Register of Historic Places attests to its significance to the Eola community and Concho County.

*The Dedicatory Ceremony
A Time To Remember
Eola School
12119 FM 381
Built In 1928

April 15, 2006
Eola School House
Eola, Texas

Contact
James Mark Cannon, Owner
Website
Email
Open 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Mon - Sat. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sun

12119 FM 381
Eola, Texas 76937
(325) 469-3314