Pineywoods Writer's Retreat
Map of Wood County
Common Schools
(more detailed map to come later)
Between 1884 and 1967, eighty-three "common schools" existed in Wood County. Formed by a legislative act in 1884, they served the rural areas and were spaced close enough for students from a community to walk to school.
OLD Coke Schoolhouse
prior to 1945
(updated picture coming)
The "new" Coke Schoolhouse (Lloyd C.S.D. 17) was built and began service in 1945. It was a two-room schoolhouse with an auditorium and a separate cafeteria building for first through eighth grade students. It replaced an old frame school building located one-half mile south of the current site.
By 1960, there were only four common schools left in Wood County. The Coke Schoolhouse (Lloyd C.S.D.17) was the last to close in 1965 when it consolidated with Quitman ISD.
Coke School Coquettes
The Coke Schoolhouse served as a center for community life. Newspaper articles report events such as the Coke Rhythm Band, three performers and a trained horse, Halloween carnivals, minstrel shows, musical concerts, and public plays (including a western jubilee with over 600 in attendance). In 1950, students hosted a week-long art exhibit with over 100 pastel drawings (some of which have been preserved and are on display at the school). Award-winning actress Sissy Spacek credits seeing the Coke School Coquettes as sparking her interest in a career on stage.
The current owners of the school would like to acknowledge that the Coke Schoolhouse operated before the desegregation of schools. The amazing opportunities available at the Coke Schoolhouse described herein were only available to white children and, indeed there were no black families in the Coke community. Now, ALL people are welcome in the Coke Schoolhouse regardless of race, gender, orientation, age, religion or belief, disability, socioeconomic status, nationality and ethnicity, or any other artifice humans use to divide or degrade others