Rheingold School is located at 334 Rheingold School Road, in
Gillespie County, Texas
Gillespie County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 26,725. The county seat is Fredericksburg. It is located in the heart of the rural Texas Hill Country in Central ...
.
In 1949, the school was consolidated with
Fredericksburg Independent School District
Fredericksburg Independent School District is a public school district based in Fredericksburg, Texas (USA).
In addition to Fredericksburg, the district serves the unincorporated communities of Stonewall, Luckenbach, Willow City, and Alber ...
. The building is now used as a community center. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in Texas
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
on May 6, 2005.
Community background
The Rheingold community was founded in 1859 on North Grape Creek, northeast of
Fredericksburg. Colonists included Heinrich Herbert, Gottfried Ottmers, Conrad Bock, Peter Herber, Heinrich Eckhardt, and Peter Fahrenhorst. The settlement became known as Rheingold, because the majority of land and business owners were the widows and sons of German immigrants Jacob and Peter Gold, victims of a
cholera
Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
epidemic. At one time, Rheingold had a general store, cotton gin, dance hall, blacksmith shop, and a gasoline service station, most of it owned by the Gold family. William Grobe was the postmaster when the community received a post office under the name Rheingold in 1878. The post office continued under the original name of Rheingold until 1907 when the mail service was transferred to
Willow City. The original name of Rheingold was officially shortened to Gold when the area received a new post office in 1908. The Gold post office was discontinued in 1931, and the community received its mail from
Johnson City.
[Jim Wheat]
School
In 1873, William Gold donated of land to accommodate the need for a school for the community's children. Labor and materials for the schoolhouse came from area families. The first structure was a 12' x 14' log house. A replacement frame schoolhouse was later built. The school had an indoor wood stove for heat, and separate outhouses for girls and boys. The water supply came from a hand pump in the yard. August Schuchard was the first teacher, who taught grades 1 through 8. The school was tuition free for the first six months, but required a payment of tuition if the student continued to the end of the school year.
The school was consolidated with the Fredericksburg Independent School District in 1949. Rheingold School was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in Texas
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
on May 6, 2005. The building is now used as a community center.
See also
*
References
External links
Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rheingold School
Defunct schools in Gillespie County, Texas
German-American culture in Texas
National Register of Historic Places in Gillespie County, Texas
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas
1873 establishments in Texas
School buildings completed in 1873
Community centers in Texas