Lott-Canada School

Beeville, the county seat of Bee County, Texas, is on Poesta Creek at the intersection of U.S. Highways 181 and 59. It is approximately ninety miles southeast of San Antonio, sixty miles north of Corpus Christi, and one-hundred-eight miles southwest of Houston. The first county seat, known as Beeville-on-the-Medio, was organized in 1858 on the east bank of Medio Creek seven miles east of the current city. Beeville was platted in 1859 as a town site named Maryville, but the name was changed to Beeville that same year. The city’s post office was also established in 1859, followed by construction of the first courthouse in 1860. In 1880, Beeville had two general stores, two hotels, a gin and gristmill, and a Blacksmith shop. Beeville was incorporated as a town in 1890, but the incorporation was dissolved in 1891. On July 25, 1893, the citizens of Beeville voted to incorporate for school purposes only, and Beeville was reincorporated as a town in 1908. 

Most of Bee County is a vegetation region, characterized by open grasslands and scattered shrubs and cacti. By 1860, the Bee County economy was based almost exclusively on cattle ranching. Some families grew small crops of corn and other grains, but farming remained on the subsistence level until well after the Civil War. Because of the emphasis on ranching, on the eve of the Civil War only seventy-nine slaves lived in the county, most of whom were evidently cow herders and drovers. The most important event in the early postwar period was the great cattle boom. This was followed by the establishment of the Gulf, Western Texas, and Pacific Railroad line northeast to Victoria, Houston, and Galveston in 1889.  

The railroads not only opened new markets outside the county, but also brought large numbers of new settlers. After the Civil War, with the explosion of cattle ranching and the addition of the railroad, more Black people, along with other ethnicities, moved into the Beeville area. The Black population in Beeville increased from 6.4% to 8.5%. The growth in population resulted in a dramatic growth in agriculture. Cotton, which was introduced to Beeville in to 1890s, became a leading crop. In 1929, oil and gas were discovered in Bee County. The oil boom brought new residents to town and in 1930 the population was just under five thousand – African Americans made up 6.9% of this total. During the Great Depression, many fell victim to falling prices for agricultural products and to the reluctance of banks to extend credit.  

Initially, Beeville settlers taught their children in their homes. In 1859, G. W. McClanahan began teaching school, for white children only, in a one-room wooden house that also served as a church and theater. The first building used exclusively for school purposes was acquired by Beeville in 1874 from the Methodist Church. On May 22, 1876, the Texas Legislature established a system of free public schools resulting in the creation of a board of school directors for Beeville and Bee County. During this same year, the first Black school in Bee County was held in Stephen Canada’s store, seven miles north of Beeville. The following year, Stephen Kennedy built a small frame schoolhouse for $19; Susan Lott and Ellen Carrol reported as teachers. Responding to a petition from Stephen Canada and Stephen Kennedy, in 1879, the court created Colored Community School Twelve; four years later, it was changed to Colored District Fifteen.  

In 1913-1914, a Black school known as School Three was completed at 107 N. Burke Street. School Three was a wood frame building constructed by carpenters Mose Lott and Alan Canada. The school principal was J. R. Lockett, teachers were Mrs. Mary Goodson and Mrs. G. A. Smith, and the Superintendent of Schools was W. E. Madderra. The superintendent’s report reflected that there were one-hundred-twenty-two Black children enrolled out of a total school population of seven-hundred-forty-four students. According to George McCarty, Bee County local historian and archivist for African American history, there was a fire in 1929 and School Three burned down. As a result, the students were schooled in temporary quarters at the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church. On July 16, 1931, the Beeville Bee-Picayune announced that a new Black school would be built. 

The Lott-Canada School was constructed between 1931 and 1932 as a school for Black students – the children and grandchildren of former slaves. The school was initially called the “Rosenwald Building” but was later named in recognition of Mose Lott and Allen Canada, the carpenters who built the previous school for Black students in Beeville. In accordance with the Rosenwald Fund requirements, local public-school authorities owned the site and building. Lott-Canada School opened with Mrs. Lockett as principal and with Ms. Ivy J. Wood, Mrs. Rupe, and Mrs. Bernice Sanders as teachers. Over the lifetime of the school, patrons and the Parent Teachers Association conducted fundraisers to finance special school events and provided supplies such as athletic team uniforms, cheerleader uniforms, travel expenses for interscholastic sporting events, and miscellaneous needs.  

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in the case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, declaring that racially separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and, in effect, violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. A special meeting of Beeville ISD Board of Trustees was held on August 15, 1955, and a decision was made to close the high school department of Lott-Canada School and integrate those students with the A. C. Jones High School students. The tenth-, eleventh-, and twelfth-grade students from Lott-Canada School went to A. C. Jones High School and, and the ninth-grade students went to Thomas Jefferson Junior High School. The remaining first- through eighth-grade Lott-Canada School students were integrated by 1964. After that time, the building was used for administrative offices. 

Lott-Canada School, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 8th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968171.

Lott Canada (Rosenwald) School, Wordpress - Lott Canada School. December 1st 2009. Accessed January 8th 2021. https://lottcanadaschool.wordpress.com/.

Lott-Canada School, The Portal to Texas History. Accessed January 8th 2021. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth78688/.