Bethel School Site - Possible Foundation Structure/Steps

Brad Dougher, Consultant to the Coppell Historical Society

Historic Overview

1853 – James Parrish establishes Bethel Cemetery (originally called Sands Cemetery and
eventually renamed Historic Bethel Cemetery).

1858 – Probably, Bethel School exists, according to deed records - timeline

coppellhistoricalsociety.org

1885 – The Freewill Baptist Church is established at Bethel, a small settlement located on the
southwest corner of present intersection of Bethel School and Moore Roads.

1928 – Bethel, Gentry and Coppell Schools consolidate into one Coppell School, and a brick
building is constructed on what is now Southwestern Blvd., at the present site of Pinkerton
Elementary School.

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James Parish and his wife Eliza Jane (Record) were issued a land grant here for 640 acres in
1848 where they settled and had a large farm. In 1853, Parrish established Bethel Cemetery
(across the street and one block south on Christi Lane) which was originally called Sands
Cemetery and eventually renamed Historic Bethel Cemetery. In 1858, Bethel School is listed in
the deed records. The exact date of its construction is unknown but may have been built in the
early 1850’s.

Bethel School was abandoned in 1928 when three local schools, Bethel, Gentry, and Coppell,
consolidated into one school, Coppell School, which is now Pinkerton Elementary. Pinkerton is
located on Southwestern Blvd west of S. Denton Tap Rd. Bethel Freewill Baptist Church
remained in use until it burned in 1915.

'Coppell, Texas: A History (Brief History)' written by Jean Murph and Lou Duggan

Legendary Locals of Coppell' by Shaun M. Jex.

BETHEL COMMUNITY
by Buren Ledbetter and Bernice Ledbetter Graham (twins)

Back in 1916 and prior Bethel Community School, District No. 97, was located in the northwest
part of Dallas County, about two miles due east of Coppell and one-quarter mile north
of Cotton Belt Railroad and Grapevine Creek. With the building of the great International D-FW
Airport, Coppell has grown; and presently the site is at the intersection of Bethel and
Moore roads, south of Bethel Road and west of Moore Road. Plans recently were announced
for an $8.5 million residential development of houses in the $40,000 to $120,000 range off
Moore Road and Bethel School Road. Located at the same site of this once
proud one-room learning institution was the community Baptist church. The school and church
grounds were surrounded on all sides except the north by beautiful trees and pasture land. Mrs.
Joe Eby learned from the late Thomas Bernard Moore, (born 1889, died Feb. 4, 1974) that he
went to Bethel School when it was a one-room log cabin with Miss Anna Moore as teacher.

We recall one time Brother George Thompson preached the funeral of a lady in the
neighborhood, and school turned out to attend the graveside service in the cemetery across the
road from the schoolhouse. She probably died with the flu, so fatal following World War I,
1918-1919.

(Peters Colony Historical Society of Dallas County, Texas. Elm Fork Echoes, Volume 2,
Number 2, November 1974, periodical, November 1974; Texas.
(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth760600/: accessed January 22, 2022),
University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History,
https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Carrollton Public Library.)

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 Initial Assessment

By reviewing maps available from the USGS website’s historical collection, the Portal to Texas
History, and HistoricAerials.com, I think it is likely that the lot at 501 Christi lane was indeed
home to Bethel School, while the the intervening lot between that and Bethel School Road was
home to the church.

The remaining concrete structure investigated by myself and Pat Quinlan measures over
2.5x2.5 meters and is possibly the remaining portion of a foundation, and may indeed have
been stairs or steps as indicated by local residents. The concrete looks like it was poured in two
phases, with a step and wider base in the first phase, which was clad in brick on the West and
South sides, and a roughly 2x2 meter slab poured on top during the second phase. Determining
exactly where the structure was in the layout of the school is difficult given the evidence and
records that are presently available. One theory is that the concrete stairs provided access to
the rear of the building, and based on the way it was poured and the brick pattern only being
extant on two sides, it it could have been the southwest corner, or provided access to one of the
two doors on the narrow end of the structure as can be seen in the class photo at the top of this
report.

A large amount of native and worked stone are present at the site as of this writing, piled without
context at the front of the property. According to the landowner, this stone was found throughout
the backyard of the modern home and bulldozed to its current location. Some of the stone,
though not native sandstone, looks roughly cut or hand-hewn, but my expertise is lacking in this
area. Some of it does look like stone I have seen at other sites that would be used as
foundations for piers in pier and beam construction.

Removal of the concrete structure and the stone would require machinery and assistance from
the city.

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 Maps

1918 Geological Map of Dallas County (Portal to Texas History)

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1923 USGS Map (United States Geological Survey)

In the zoomed-in section of the 1923 USGS map, you’ll notice two symbols at the SW corner of
Bethel School and Moore Roads, the top symbol represents a church (Bethel Baptist), and the
bottom represents a school (Bethel School). The location can be further pinpointed using the
following two maps.

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Note the remnants of a foundation visible in this 1958 aerial photograph.

This map shows modern structures as they exist today. The circled structure is the house at 501 Christi
Ln. (note: the scale is not the same)

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 Photos from primary investigation 1/22/22

School Foundational Structure, photo direction East/Northeast. Note brick pattern on West side,
also appears on south side.

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Structure looking West

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Structure looking South

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Structure Looking Southeast

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Possible “Globe Brick” - The Globe Brick Company merged into Ferris Brick Company in Ferris,
TX in 1923 - source: International Brick Collectors Facebook Page

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Stone piled at front of property - possible foundation stones, or simply landscaping stones.
Some have remnants of mortar present.

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