Willow City School

The Willow City School District #804 is in the northeastern part of Gillespie County, with its northern border extending to the Llano County line. English speaking settlers of the Old South and of Scotch Irish descent, together with a sprinkling of German settlers, became the backbone of the community. In addition to the more substantial settlers of Willow City, a great deal of riffraff used the town as a “hangout” at the turn of the century. Drawing a knife in a fight between school youngsters was quite a common offense. There was also a report of teachers wrangling with a school boy to take a six shooter away from him.

The first school was a one room log cabin. R.C. Roberts, who came to the community in 1876, described the schoolhouse as “a one-room log cabin, no longer new”. It had split log benches and no floor. This cabin also served as a church. A two story frame schoolhouse was constructed in 1890 on higher ground, after severe flooding. This building had two classrooms downstairs and one large classroom upstairs with an outside stairway. A bell tower summoned the students to class.

It was early in 1905, when the Willow City District became independent, that it was decided to build a new school. J.W. Lindeman and J. C. Hardin each donated a plot of ground and after a bond issue, the new school became a reality. The granite, two story building was built, and consisted of rooms on the first floor and one room on the second. This second floor room served as an auditorium, as well as classroom, during the years when there were three teachers. This room also had a stage. Improvements were made to the building in 1915, in order to obtain state aid. Ventilators were added, a partition was made on the first floor to create an entrance hallway and black board space was added. The school had no water supply until 1920, when a well was drilled. Up until that time, students brought their own water from home, or a resident living close to school supplied water. Classes were taught at this school through grade nine and three teachers were employed until 1957. Willow City Independent School District was consolidated with Fredericksburg in 1961.

The Willow City Community Club was formed in 1961. The club meets on the first Friday of each month to play Texas “42”. The building is also used for many other community and private activities.