In the early days of Upshur County, there were no public free schools.
Schools were private, and were supported by private tuition or by
private donations. Back in the days of the Texas Republic, when Lamar
was president, in 1839, a law was passed setting aside three leagues of
land for each county for the establishment of primary schools and
academies. The next year, 1840, another league was added. If there was
not enough good vacant land in the county for this purpose, the survey
was to be made from public lands elsewhere. Upshur County’s school land
lies in Baylor and Throckmorton counties. It has never been sold and now
yields a considerable income to the schools from rents and leases.
Upshur County has had from its earliest days some good schools located
in different parts of the county. There was the Murry Institute, located
somewhere about where Ore City now stands. It was a school of
considerable note and was doing excellent work when the Civil War broke
out. The Rev. J. J. Clark was founder and manager of the school.
Murry League got its name from William Murry who was the original
grantee in a very early day. The Rev. Joshua Clark and his family and
William L. Coppedge and his family moved to Texas from Haywood County,
Tennessee, in wagons, in the fall of 1853, and settled at Murry League
and together with others, began the erection of a large frame school
building which received the name of Murry Institute. This school soon
became the largest and most prominent school in the county, sending out
many young men and women of various callings to make their mark in the
world. The Rev. Clark was the head of the school, and some of the first
teachers were Virgil M. DuBose, William L. Coppedge, W. B. Baley, and a
number of other teachers of wide reputation. Later, some of the teachers
were H. M. Mathis, R. G. Hersley, D. LeLand, Mrs. Eva Mash, J. A.
Coppedge, James S. Palmer and others.
The Civil War broke into the progress of this school. Many of the young
men quit school to join the army and the school never gained back all
that was lost by the war.
School was held in the old building until it grew too large for the
building, then the Methodist Church was used. Clark, the founder and
first principal, was perhaps one of the greatest teachers that ever
lived in Texas. He was said to be a man of strong character, and had the
ability to raise money, even in the backwoods, to carry on a great
school.
There were other noted schools organized in Upshur County that were
maintained for a while, but went down on account of the Civil War and
other causes. It was almost impossible to finance a school back in those
days. There were founded, in Gilmer, the Gilmer Masonic Female
Institute, Gilmer Female Academy, which was supported by the Methodist
Church, and Gilmer Male Academy, also supported by the church. Then
there was the Looney School at Gilmer.
Located near Simpsonville was the Leroy Institute, founded and taught by
Professor Leroy. This was a noted school for a few years, and did some
valuable work.