Cy-Fair HS History

Cy-Fair HS History

A short look into Cy-Fair High School's history...

The Emergence of Education in Cypress, TX

During the late 1800s, rice and dairy farming communities with one-room schoolhouses began to emerge. Two such schools of significance were located in Cypress and an area called "Gum Island" by the wagon trains because of the gumbo mud which was common during the spring season and an obstacle to travel. In 1896, C. W. Hohl founded the school in "Gum Island," later renamed Fairbanks, which includes an area where district schools Bane, Dean, and Holbrook are now located. The first class of 12 students was taught by Miss Best. The people of Cypress built Big Cypress Schoolhouse, No. 2. Dist. 6, also referred to as "the Cypress School," in 1884. The Cypress School was erected on the site where Lamkin Elementary now stands. The 20-acre site was donated to the district by Louis Telge, the grandfather of former School Board members John and Chester Telge. A church that was located on the property was moved across the street to a 1.5-acre site donated to the church by Mr. Telge. The first teacher at Big Cypress Schoolhouse, No. 2 Dist. 6 was Mr. Williford, father of District Judge Frank Williford. Children at both the Fairbanks and Cypress schools walked to school with the exception of a few who rode horses (this system of transportation continued into the 1920s).

Big Cypress Schoolhouse No. 2, Dist. 6

The Emergence of Education in Cypress, TX

Because the Cypress and Fairbanks Schools were limited to grades one through eight, high school students in the Fairbanks area attended high school at HISD's Reagan High School, while high school students in Cypress and Spring Branch ISD attended Addicks High School (Addicks ISD no longer exists).

During the early 1900s, the Fairbanks school system was marked by instability. The original one room school was completely destroyed by the hurricane of 1900, rebuilt, and destroyed again by the storm of 1915. Classes continued in an empty house and later in the home of G. H. Tanner. Students were eventually moved to the newly finished Methodist Church. A three-room building was later erected at Hempstead Highway near the railroad tracks, and, in 1924, the entire campus was moved to the present site of Bane Elementary.

Carverdale

In 1925 Mr. Louis Depsloff, a German dairy farmer, offered the use of his one-room, wood frame farmhouse to the residents of Independence Garden, currently known as Carverdale. In 1926, the school was moved to Macedonia Baptist Church on Darcy Lane.

The school, then called Fairbanks Colored School, opened its doors to 19 students in grades one through six. Since the farmhouse was also used as the community church, Greater Macedonia Baptist Church, each Monday Scott’s students stacked church benches to the back and replaced them with desks. At the end of the day on Friday, the desks were stacked away until the next school week.

Carverdale School

The Bane Elementary building was moved to Clara Road (in honor of Clara Scott, one of the first teachers at Fairbanks Colored School) and this became the first permanent school building for what would later be known as Carverdale School.

It was not until 1938 that Ms. Scott had her first official graduating class of four students – Savannah Jones, Bertha Mae Strait, R. A. Strait and Hazel Scott. At that time students who finished grade seven would attend school at Harper Middle School and then Booker T. Washington High School in Houston Independent School District. Scott would continue as the single teacher of Carverdale Colored School until 1951.

Rural High School No. 5

By 1937, the Cypress School consisted of seven rooms, a superintendent's office, and a library, and, later that year, a new wood-framed schoolhouse for high school students was constructed on the site where Lamkin Elementary now stands. The school was named Rural High School No. 5 and was very modern by the standards of the time. It included a music room and a full-sized gymnasium/auditorium, amenities most schools did not have during the time period.

Cy-Fair High School

On August 17, 1940, a bond issue in the amount of $200,000 was passed by a vote of 189-172. Superintendent Millsap and the newly-created school board purchased 100 acres for $75 per acre from J. Lieder on September 30, 1940, and awarded a bid for the construction of a new brick high school on May 9, 1941. High school students walked as a group to their new campus, which was featured in the Houston Chronicle as "one of the most modern-equipped and largest school buildings in Harris County," in the spring of 1942, and the first commencement ceremony was held on campus that same year. The new brick building was named Cypress-Fairbanks High School and still exists today as the centerpiece of the Cy-Fair High School complex (the name was officially shortened years later). 

Original Floor Plan of Cy-Fair High School

Growth of Cy-Fair HS

Under Superintendent T. Sial Hancock (1955-1967), a bond referendum was passed on October 24, 1959, that funded a new west wing for Cypress-Fairbanks High School to house departments related to science, math, electronics, foreign languages, and journalism.

Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all.

The Closing of Carverdale

Due to a mandate by the federal government for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD to desegregate its school district in 1967, the school Board voted to close Carverdale School on Aug. 3, 1970. In later years, Carverdale School was used by the Houston Community College System as its Carverdale campus. After the Carverdale branch of Houston Community College closed, the Carverdale School facility was demolished, and sadly, the site where Carverdale once stood is now lined with industrial warehouses.

Open Ended

Please reflect on Cy-Fair High School's history and how this knowledge can help you better serve our Bobcats...

Open Ended

The CFISD population has grown exponentially over the last 40 years. In your opinion, how has this growth impacted Cy-Fair High School.

Care to Dig Deeper?

Please check out the web sites on the following slides to read more about the history of Carverdale, Cy-Fair High School, & CFISD...

About CFISD / Carverdale

You can open this webpage in a new tab.

Copy link

Open in new tab

About CFISD / History of CFISD

You can open this webpage in a new tab.

Copy link

Open in new tab