Junior High marks foundation of Jasper's earliest education
By KATIE WALDROP Staff Writer

Jasper Junior High / Katie Waldrop

The history of the Jasper Junior High School has been obtained from the Jasper County Historical Commission in the Old Jail Museum on the courthouse square.

Jasper Junior High School has not always been what it is today. The school has gone through reconstruction and refining since its very beginning. The first institute of higher learning was the Jasper Collegiate Institute, chartered Nov. 24, 1851. Its purpose was the promotion of useful knowledge and the advancement of the sciences.

The first session opened in the fall of 1851 with Marcus A. Montrose as president. Although the college was coeducational, the boys and girls had separate entrances and were separated in class.

Interest declined during the War Between the States (Civil War), but the school reopened in 1866 with Elisha Seale as president, followed by: George Rose, Captain O.M. Marsh, Charles S. Douglas, W.R. Blackshear and R.M. Humphrey.

The school's doors closed after Humphrey to make way for a larger institution that was re-organized in 1874, when shares were sold to obtain funds for a new building.

Sept. 2, 1878, the newly-chartered Southeast Texas Male and Female College opened its doors to 92 students, 40 girls and 52 boys. C.P. McCrohan served as president, assisted by Mrs. McCrohan.

The McCrohans promised to include the "solidity and severity of the best universities and at the same time retain all the desirable graces and accomplishments of the female colleges of the highest grade." Capably managed and staffed by able teachers, the college earned a desirable reputation throughout East Texas, according to articles in The Jasper News-Boy.

When the building burned in the spring of 1900, it was replaced through the cooperation of Jasper citizens as a two-story building with one large room on each floor. As the school grew, the rooms were partitioned into classrooms. During the 1900-01 term, 200 students enrolled; 60 were boarding members.

In 1910, the college was closed. Deeds to the property were recorded, which permitted the Jasper Public School system to absorb the facilities and operate an elementary and high school.They were run as public schools as long as the funds lasted, then continued the balance of the term as a private school, supported by tuition.

The necessity of the private school was was replaced by better provisions made by the state and the imposing of localized taxes.

The first graduation under the public school system was held in 1910.

A new building was erected in 1923. The foundation is still in use today as part of Jasper Junior High School.