Note: This article is based on an abbreviated version of the application for a state historical marker for Round Mountain School submitted by Friends of Round Mountain School.
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With the arrival of the railroad line through Leander in 1882, many families began to settle the area of northwestern Travis County. From 1866 until 1898, settlers could apply for a Texas Preemption Grant and get title to a 160 acres tract with the only stipulation being that they live for three years on the acreage and make improvements. Many settlers took advantage of the opportunity in this area, and they named their community Round Mountain for a nearby and prominent landmark. (1)
Established in the early 1870s, Round Mountain School began as a one-room structure made of logs, built on the area bounded by Long Hollow Creek and Big Sandy Creek. This building served the community for about twenty years. Only six teachers were employed during this period: Minnie Watson, Joshie Casis, Nonie Sullivan, Joshie Hickman (nee Joshie Casis), J.D. Stephen, Rufus Smith, and Billy Smith.(2) By 1900, the logs were sold, lumber was purchased, and a new school was built on land deeded to the Round Mountain Community for $10.00, by J.R. and May J. Faubion. It was given in a charitable trust. Faubion named T.T. Hamilton, J. A. Smith and D. Landry, as trustees. From the Special Warranty Deed filed in the Travis County Deed Records on April 4, 1900:
I, J. A. Faubion joined by my wife Mrs. M. J. Faubion . . . . HAVE GRANTED, SOLD, and CONVEYED and by these presents do GRANT, SELL, and CONVEY . . . . unto the said T.T. Hamilton, J. A. Smith and D. Landry, trustees of the Round Mountain Community and their successors in office for the sole use and benefit of the members of said community and their successors in office for the sole use and benefit of said community, the following described tract or parcel of land:
It being a part of the Jesse T Smith survey in Travis County Texas near the head waters of Cross Creek and bounded as follows: Beginning at a mound the S.W. Corner of said Jesse T Smith survey, then S. 60⁰ E 237 vs a st mound. Thence N 12⁰ W. 173 vs. Then S. 84W. 150⁰ vs a st mound In the East line of the Martha G. Morrow survey. Thence S. 30 W. 40 vs with said Morrow east line to the beginning.”(3)
Through the years, from 1888 to 1945, Round Mountain School was a one room, one teacher school for 25-30 students from grades 1-8. The school year terms were four to six months. School teachers who were women were required to be single. Both men and women could serve as teachers. They were paid $60-$100 per month and each could pay $20 per month for room and board in the homes of families in the area. The teachers in the school constructed in 1900 were Daisey Dennis, Tom Barker, Bessie Lohman, Bell McPherson, Birdie Mitcherson, Julia Nelson, and Thelma Jones. Those who taught in the school built in 1929 were Mrs. Clark Faubion, Louise Thornton, Ruby Landry, Mary Ruth Chance, Easter Wade, and Nila May Gamblin. (4)
All the schools in the rural areas of Travis County were supervised by the county superintendent to whom the teachers were required to submit lesson plans. The teacher’s daily schedule was divided by grades. The teacher’s desk was on an elevated platform facing the rows of pupils’ desks and the recitation bench. There were morning and afternoon recess periods of fifteen minutes as well as an hour at noon for lunch and play. To call the pupils to assembly, there was a large brass dinner bell that the teacher would ring.(5)
The school building that was built in 1920 burned in 1927. The community once again donated money and labor to rebuild their school. They purchased windows, wood, and supplies, and by 1929 the school that stands today was completed. There was a wood-burning stove and six windows on the side of the school for light and ventilation. On the other side were two rooms and two doors. One was a cloak room with hooks, and the other was for supplies including baseballs and bats.
In 1940, the WPA added another outhouse so the girls and boys could have separate restroom facilities. They also piped the water from the water well to drinking fountains along the west side of the school so no more pumping from the well was needed. (6)
The Travis County rural schools closed at the end of the 1945 school year, and the Round Mountain students were thereafter bused to Leander for schooling. Nevertheless, even though the school was no longer used for grade school classes, the Round Mountain community continued to enjoy the facility left to them. For many years, it was the voting location for the area. There have been dances, classes, church services, meetings, and potluck suppers held in the building.
When the building was no longer used as a school, the need for upkeep and maintenance for the structure ran into challenges. The Faubions, when giving the land in 1900, set up three trustees to manage both the land and school. That arrangement became problematic--time passed, trustees died, and new trustees grew weary of the responsibilities, expense, and maintenance.
The Trustees gave the school and land to the Leander Independent School System. In February of 1964, the LISD sold the property back to the Round Mountain Community for five dollars paid by the Trustees at that time, E.M. (Buster) Fulkes, Rosco Faubion, R. Morris Faubion, and Edd M. Fulkes, and their successors in office as such for the Round Mountain Community. (8)
Ten years later, on June 25, 1974, E. M. Fulkes, et.al, and the former trustees sued Morris Chamberlain, an unhappy property owner, et.al, and the Round Mountain Community.(9) We don’t have details of why the suit was brought, but the trial was February 11, 1974, in the District Court of Travis County, Texas in the 201st Judicial District. It was a jury trial and the 12 men and women decided to maintain the trustee management system that the Faubions had written into their gift of the land. The court insured this in a special warranty deed. “For 1$ the court granted, sold, and conveyed unto Rosco Faubion, E.M. Fulkes, Jr., Winston Travis Hayes, Don Lucenbill, and O.K. Riley as successor trustees of the property herein conveyed, for the use and benefit of the members of the Round Mountain Community.” (9) This increased the number of trustees from three to five.
In addition to increasing the number of trustees, the court also added the provisions for appointment of successor trustees. The court reformed and amended the deed of January 19, 1900, to include: “Should any office of trustee as herein provided be vacant by reason of the death, incapacity, act or resignation, the majority of the remaining trustees shall have the power at any time during the existence of this trust to fill such vacancy by the appointment of a successor, such appointment to be in writing, executed by the persons making same and acknowledged as deeds are required to be acknowledged under the laws of the State of Texas, and successor trustee so appointed shall have all the powers and authority of any of the trustees named herein and appointed her under, including the power to appoint another trustee to fill a vacancy.”(10)
The court document also found “That certain deed of January 19, 1900, is hereby reformed and amended by adding the following provisions relating to the management and administration of the said charitable trust:
a. The trustees appointed hereunder, and their successors in office, shall in connection with the management and administration of the trust have the duty to exercise the judgment and care under the circumstances than prevailing which men of ordinary prudence, discretion, and intelligence would exercise in the management of their own affairs, in regard to the preservation, continuance, and improvement of the trust estate.
b. The trustees in their sole discretion shall have the power to continue the operation and management of the trust estate in such as manner as to benefit the members of Round Mountain Community and to make the use of said trust estate available to the members of Round Mountain Community or other at convenient times and without discrimination or favoritism.
c. The trustees shall have the power to charge for the use of the trust estate, to levy assessments against the beneficiaries, or otherwise generate income out of the use of the said trust estate, and from the income thus made and received, the trustees shall set aside a fund to defray the expenses of administration or protection of the trust; in addition, the trustees shall set aside from such income, a reserve fund for the purpose of making improvements, repairs, modification or changes to the trust estate as determined by the trustees in their discretion to be in the best interest of the said beneficiaries.”
In spite of the court case, the care of the school by the trustees, and the transfer of responsibility for the school, has not always gone smoothly. In the late 1970s, Don and Kathleen Rowlett expressed interest in the building, and they contacted the trustees. The trustees, who had been overseeing the building for many years were ready to step down. They posted a meeting notice, held the meeting, and Don Rowlett was elected chairman and Kathleen Rowlett was selected as secretary. Three other members were also made trustees. In August, 1984, Rowlett talked to a tax attorney, and Don was able to challenge the tax statement, got a tax-free status placed on the community center, and received for the center a refund on property taxes. (11)
A bank account in the Round Mountain Community Center’s name was opened requiring two officers’ signatures for transactions; through meetings, rules were established for use of the center, hours of use, purposes, and fees for a deposit, and expectations for clean-up. There was a form with information of who to contact for Center use as well as an emergency phone number. Minutes, receipts, and other records were kept and turned over to their replacement officers when the Rowletts had to move to Austin because of health reasons. Kathleen wrote, “ When we left in the early 1980s, the building was in good shape, and I gave the binder with all the original receipts and documents to Peggy Creamer who was taking my place.”
In 1987, in a Round Mountain Community Center Newsletter, Jean Nance, wrote, “This is our history. On January 19, 1900, Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Faubion gave the community of Round Mountain a tract of land to be used as a community center. The building presently on this tract of land was built and used as a public school until it was consolidated with Leander I.S.D. This property is managed by a Board of Trustees as designated in the original deed and later by court order. This property is for the use of all the community. The present Board of Trustees started holding monthly town meetings to try to inform the residents of Sandy Creek, Great Oaks, Honeycomb Hills, Leander Hills and other subdivisions in the area of the benefits and availability of their community center.”(12)
Lannie Read, an area resident since 1979, explained that the Round Mountain community had their hands full trying to get a volunteer fire department started and dealing with the lack of a good water system, so no one had the money, energy or time to devote to the old school.(13) In the late 1990s, the Sandy Creek Community Association formed to address the school’s condition.
By this time, the floor was caving in, there was fire damage inside, pieces of the interior wall were falling off, and a door would not close. Lindsay Haisley, who was elected as chairman of the SCCA, stated, “It was effectively abandoned. We knew of no board of trustees, and the Sandy Creek Community Association took responsibility for the property, formed a board of trustees (not filed at the County), and tried to decide what should be done. Some may have had the impression that we were trying to take over, but it was apparent that no one was minding the store. We were trying to do the best we could by the community. There was talk of tearing the building down, salvaging what we could, and building something new.” (12)
“Word got out of this and a bunch of folks whose families had lived in the area for a century got pretty upset, came in with tools and supplies, and proceeded to fix the building up and bring it back to a useable state. All of us, old and new residents, had sweat equity in the place before the job was done,” reported Lindsay Haisley.
Dottie Brower and her family worked so hard on the project that she was asked to join the board of trustees. Personality conflicts led to other board members resigning, and the Board of Trustees now is led by Dorothy Maynard Brower. She has appointed family members as the other trustees, positions she and her family have held since 1998. The Brower family has maintained the building and paid bills that were incurred. They allowed voting to take place there for many years. There is now a church renting it for services on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. There is, however, nothing on file or of record that supports the Brower family as trustees.
The residents of Round Mountain take great pride in their history. The community was comprised of ranchers, farmers, cedar choppers, and everyone in between. There were German Lutherans and Czech Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. The Assembly of God got its start in this area at the nearby Nameless Schoolhouse. The makeup of school classes was quite mixed socioeconomically and culturally. (7)
The school stands as a symbol of the importance the residents have always placed on education, and the school’s identity as the Round Mountain Community. Besides the educating of the young people, the school building also held community meetings and get-togethers. On Christmas and Easter, the community usually gathered to celebrate at the school. Local residents often put on plays for entertainment. At the end of the school year, a barbecue was often celebrated with goats donated by local ranchers. Box suppers were held there too with boxes decorated and filled with delicious food to be auctioned off. Dances often followed those box suppers. Many people in the area were talented musicians so music usually accompanied most gatherings: Albert, Baldy and Van Lohman, and Steve Huffington were fiddlers; Buster Fulkes played harmonica.
In the 1930s and during WWII, many local residents met at the school and made quilts to be raffled off to support local families in need and then the war effort. During this same era, residents made mattresses for those in need with materials donated by the Home Demonstration Club, a program of the US Department of Agriculture. As a project through the years, the children beautified the Round Mountain community cemetery located across the road from the school. They pulled weeds, planted flowers, and lined walkways with rocks. (6)
What began in 1888 with a vision for community and cohesiveness around a central location—school, church, dance hall, meeting center, voting precinct, gathering place—is now in jeopardy as area growth explodes around this valuable cultural and civic resource. With love and care the community is working hard to preserve this gem of the local community and looks forward to celebrating the current building’s centennial in 2029.
Documentation/Resources:
(1) Round Mountain—Texas State Historical Association; USGS ID 2034570(2) Travis County Public Schools, The Defender, 1936
(3) Deed to Round Mountain Community Center from JA
(4) Nameless, Its History and Its People, by Genny Kercheville, 2016
(5) Austin History Center archives
(6) Oral Interview, Easter Lily Wade Whitt
(7) Cedar Choppers, Life at the End of Nowhere, by Ken Roberts
(8) Deed from Leander ISD to Round Mountain Community, Feb 11, 1974 (attached)
(9) Civil Suit filed June 25, 1974 (Vol 709, pp489-493
(10) Special Warranty Deed, July 30, 1974 (Deed Records, Travis County, Vol 4973, pages 181,182
(11) Oral Interview, Kathleen Rowlett 2018
(12) Lindsay Haisley, (https://www.sandycreekcommunity.org)
(13) Oral Interview, Lannie Read, August 2022
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