East Metro Park is a Travis County Park located at 8706 Blake Manor Road, just south of Manor. The 273-acre East Metropolitan Park is a multiple-use recreational area with recreational facilities.
When the Travis County Historical Commission visited the park in 2018 they made a surprising discovery: the park was once the home to the Hayden Springs School, AKA Sandy Hayden School. Hayden Springs School was a late 19th / early 20th century African American school that has largely been lost to Travis County's history. The school was in operation from about 1884 to 1928. Also in the park is a two-room "tenant shack". Aerial photos of the area show the two-room structure has been at its current location since at least 1937. It is still unclear as to whether the tenant-shack was built in-place or moved to its current location. Could the tenant-shack be the old school moved to this location? Still unknown.
If you have information on Hayden Springs School, we'd love to hear from you! Please leave a detailed voice mail message at (512) 854-9575 or send an email to traviscountyhistorical@gmail.com
As of December 2022 a CLG grant to research Hayden Springs community at large is being wrapped up with a report pending.
Photos
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| Location of school in today's park |
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| 1898-1902 County Road Map that led to discovery of school |
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| Two-room tenant shack in park. Could this be the old Hayden Springs School? |
Whether or not the tenant shack was the school building may not ever be proven, I doubt it was. But I do know for sure that the building you nave identified as 41TV2012 on the 1937 and other maps in your YouTube video is NOT the tenant shack. My family has owned the property across the road from the tenant shack since 1952 and I clearly remember a house (not the tenant shack) being in the field where you show 41TV2012. There was someone living in the house and there were cars driving up to it for several years after we moved to the area.
ReplyDeleteWayne - thanks for the feedback. I think you have spoken w/ Bob before and we were hoping to get with you at some point.
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