COKE, Texas — The last remaining community building in a rural community between Quitman and Winnsboro in Wood County has been fully renovated and restored -- the old Coke Schoolhouse.
From 1945 to 1965, it served as a two-room schoolhouse with an auditorium and a separate cafeteria building for first through eighth graders. Afterward, the school consolidated to be a part of the Quitman school district.
D'Ann Drennan bought the property from the family who owned it, the Robinsons, in 2020 and the inside is completely renovated now. She said her father and grandparents lived in the community and attended school in Coke.
She noted the Robinson family member who sold the property to her, Jack Robinson, attended the Coke Schoolhouse. He’s now in his 80s and still working.
Coke was settled in the 1850s and didn’t develop until later when coal was discovered nearby. The town was named after the byproduct used to make steel. By 1892, Coke had 200 residents and 12 businesses, according to the website texasescapes.com.
But four years later, Coke had just 25 people living there, the post office closed in 1906 and the community made it through the Great Depression with 25 residents.
By 1960, all that remained in Coke was the school and a few homes. From 1972 to 2000, the population was around 105.
Drennan said for a long time, the schoolhouse and the Coke store were the only community buildings left. But a car crashed into the store, causing it to be demolished and leaving just the school as the last public building to represent Coke.
Decades ago, there were 70 common schools across Wood County - schools where students in rural areas would walk to in their community and go to high school in one of the larger towns, Drennan said.
She added that the Coke school was the last common school to consolidate into a larger school district. Many community members who still live in the area went to Coke schools.
The Texas Historical Commission recently approved the Coke Schoolhouse as a historic designation site.
Drennan said the effort is a passion project for her because of her love of history and family roots in Coke.
“It’s such an important piece of history and I think that’s valuable for us to learn. Other schools could learn from that as well,” Drennan said.
Drennan has gathered newspaper clippings, framed photos of sports teams and the drill team, student drawings and paintings as a part of memorabilia to include in the school. The building also has the original chalkboards and some of the auditorium seats.
Actress and Quitman native Sissy Spacek, who is well known for her role as Loretta Lynn in “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” has written in her memoir and other places that seeing Coke’s drill team, the Coquettes, inspired her to become an actress.
Drennan said students’ mothers would make the food in the cafeteria and the students raved about the meals.
For a while, the Coke Volunteer Fire Department was housed in the former schoolhouse building, and Drennan said that helped with maintaining the school.
On Saturday, Drennan will host an open house to showcase the renovations from 2 to 5 p.m. at the school, located at 5601 FM 69 South in Quitman or the intersection of FM 515 and FM 69 in Wood County.
In the future, Drennan plans to rent out the building, but it will serve as a second home for her family, who live near Forth Worth, as her mom still lives independently in Quitman.