The Rock Church School

The Rock Church (Methodist Episcopal) was located on the west bank of Pepper Creek near the Midway community, about three miles northeast of Belton. In 1859, trustees John Carpenter, Dred Hill, John Dameron, Warren Pruett, and James Black secured the land from Elisha Embree as recorded on the deed in the county clerk’s office. The small church became a vital part of the community and was described by the Belton Journal as a “steel-connecting link towards a more cultured Bell County.”

Native limestone was the primary building material with some lumber brought by ox cart from Bastrop. Elisha Embree’s slave, John Cook, did the mason work. The ceiling and windowsills were made of cedar, and the windows and doors were solid oak. Four windows faced east, and two windows and two doors faced west. Two large fireplaces adorned the north and south end of the 26 feet by 21 feet structure. Blackboards (boards painted Black) were on the wall and above them, John Holscomb, one of the early teachers, wrote, “Order is Heaven’s first law and must be had at all times to succeed.” The students' school spirit was embodied in the school yell:

                               Pocket full of rocks

                               Head full of knowledge,

                               I’d rather go to Rock School

                               Than any other college.

At the combination church and school, church services were held on Sundays with John Carpenter serving as the local preacher. Although built for Methodists, people of other denominations used the building. Reverend Carpenter was a great-grandfather of the Kegleys and Carpenters of Temple and Belton. Later, a Reverend Whitly was the circuit-riding minister, probably visiting Rock Church once or twice a month, often alternating with Cedar Creek Church. In 1878, the membership rolls showed 78 active members. Some of the members included the Chapmans, Coxes, Embrees, Graves, Kellers, Kerrs, Carpenters, Holscombs, Fergusons, Caters, Wrights, Monteiths, Damerons, and Oliphants among others. The building was used as a church until 1895 when the Midway Church was built.

School was held throughout the week with only one teacher. For schoolchildren, there were long pine benches for seating, blue back spellers (The American Spelling Book by Noah Webster), writing slates, and McGuffey’s readers. In 1903 the school had sixty-eight pupils and one teacher. Some of the teachers who taught at the school were Minnie Kegley, Lila Robinson, Eliza Graham, Roy Holscomb, Theo Mahler, and Jessy Mayes. One long-time teacher was Cora Lamb who held a B.L. (Bachelor of Letters) degree from Baylor College. Pearl Hellums Hill of Belton taught all seven grades at the school during 1914-1915 and was paid $60 a month for a six-month term. Mrs. Hill lived on Pepper Creek and walked to school after preparing lunches for herself and her brothers and sisters, who were also her students. Her first task was to build fires to warm the building. Standing at the door, she rang a bell for classes. The boys marched through one door and the girls marched through another since they were not allowed to sit on the same side of the room.

In 1912, in an effort to raise standards and improve efficiency, the Bell County Board of Education classified the schools of the county. Rock Church School, with seven grades and one teacher, was classified as an intermediate school. In addition, the state’s course of study for rural schools was adopted, and the county superintendent was required to submit uniform examination questions “to serve as tests of the thoroughness and progress of the work being done in the various grades of the different schools.”

In 1918, the citizens of Midway petitioned the Belton School District for annexation. The County Board annexed a portion of the Rock Church Common School District to the Belton School District; however, the annexation was declared illegal by the Attorney General in 1922, thus cancelling the local board’s action.

The Rock Church served as a gathering place and community center. Many civic groups met at the church, and a voting box was located there prior to 1882. The County Alliance of Bell County, a local chapter of the Southern Farmers’ Alliance, hosted S. O. Daws, Grand State Lecturer at the church in 1886. In 1887, a club calling itself “Rock Church Democratic Club” was born to “keep alive the principles and practices of the democratic party” and to endorse “a plank in the platform of the party—national and state—declaring state prohibition and all other sumptuary measures regulating individuals in their use of clothing, furniture, food or drink to be undemocratic.” Church camp meetings were well-attended events as people from all around would congregate for a two-weeks’ revival in the summer. Families who lived a far distance would camp on the church grounds while those from Temple, Belton, and surrounding towns would spend the day.

The Rock Church School, a place of worship and a “seat of learning” for many early Bell County families for almost one hundred years, was demolished in 1950.

Bicentennial Committee of the Temple-Bell Retired Teachers Association. History of Bell County Public Schools, 1854-1976. Bell County, Tex.: the Committee, 1976.

“Democracy at Rock Church.” The Temple Weekly Times, September 10, 1887.

Donna A. Barnes, “Farmers' Alliance,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed December 21, 2021, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/farmers-alliance. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

“Superintendent’s Report.” Temple Daily Telegram, September 1, 1912.