A Coyote’s cry from the past: Leesburg School

By Carolyn Anders | Special to The Gazette

NOTE: This article was written by my son, Chad Anders, several years ago when he was a freshman in high school. I know the story was published in The Pittsburg Gazette at that time, but I wanted to tweak and republish it one more time before all of the memories are gone.

LEESBURG --  Although now a small, rural community, Leesburg was once a bustling town with a post office, dry goods store, several churches, a combined grocery store and service station and home to the famous Beatie Burgers, a service station and café owned by my grandparents, Beatrice and Robert Gibson. 
Leesburg was made up of a closely knit group of people who were united by the school. The Leesburg School was located in the heart of the town on Farm-to-Market 1519. The first school, built in 1909, was a large, white two-story building. On the first floor were an auditorium, one classroom and a music room. The top floor was compiled of classrooms only. Four to six teachers usually taught at the school. Some of the earlier teachers were Mrs. Lunsford Florence, C. J. Jackson, and Mr. and Mrs. Flexidine Robertson. Mr. Robertson was also the principal and superintendent of the school, and Mrs. Robertson was later to be known as the poet laureate of Texas.
State money was scarce, and students had to purchase their own books until 1914 when the state began furnishing books. Materials were difficult to get and teachers looked forward to peddlers coming to the school selling maps and charts. No electricity existed in the early days of the school.

For complete story, see April 13 issue