BLUFF DALE

We entered the school year with 229 students in grades PK to 12th.  Our students benefit from small class sizes and a 1:16 teacher-to-student ratio.  This setup provides Bluff Dale students with a small school environment that offers big school opportunities.  

Our curriculum is aligned with the state and provides a very challenging approach to the students’ learning process.  This process includes critical thinking, problem solving, communication skills, multimedia integration, hands-on projects, and higher-order discovery.   The highly qualified staff takes great pride in creating lifelong learners filled with self-esteem and self-confidence. 

Classrooms are equipped with student and teacher computers, smart boards, and digital cameras.  The computer lab also houses iPads for student and teacher classroom use.  We are very dedicated to having new and current software to assist all students in learning. We are a 1:1 campus when it comes to technology from grades 6-12. 

We offer six-man football, cheerleading, spirit squad, book club, art club, basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, golf, cross country, track, academic UIL, Stu-Co, NHS, FCA, and FFA.  4H activities are also available. 

The School Board is very committed to giving the students, staff, and community the best school possible.  They are increasing their efforts to assist all students in need of academic and social assistance on an individual basis.  They are actively looking at creating a learning environment that fits the needs of the students and staff, involving facility upgrades and increasing instructional space. 

Bluff Dale School History

Records from the minutes of the Commissioners Court meeting in early 1867 show the beginning of the Bluff Dale School. Schools at that time were considered subscription schools, and typically a fee of $1.00 per month per student was collected.

An old log house was the setting for the first Bluff Dale School, and the first teacher was Lum Stephens. In 1880, a box-stripped house on Holmes Street was built. The building on Holmes Street burned, and a new building was constructed about 1900 at the present school site. This building was a relatively large plank building with at least two rooms.

As the school began to grow, a larger building was needed, and on June 23, 1906, a vote was cast and an Independent School District was formed. A bond election was held to construct a free public school building of stone material. The bond election passed on September 22, 1906, and a new stone building was built.

Bluff Dale I.S.D. was once a large school consisting of a two-story, rock building. It was built in 1906 and stood until 1929. Even though it was not around in our time doesn't mean it was not significant to the citizens of Bluff Dale.

Before this school was built, the students had to go to school in a little building that was described as a small one-room box and stripped house. The students sat on long slatted benches instead of desks. After the population of students increased, the school decided it was time to build a bigger building.

The school went from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Still, the numbers increased. The building had four large classrooms and three small rooms, which were used as a library, a music room, and one for private study or a work room. This school encouraged all students to participate in clubs and athletics. In 1922, the first student-made yearbook was published. Over the years, this building adapted an 11th grade system, then eventually a 10th grade system, and finally to the current 8th grade system.

In the Spring of 1927, during a storm, lightning struck the steeple of the school and knocked it off. The lightning strike occurred during school time, and several students were injured. The following year, concerns about the structural integrity of the building were voiced, and the school board petitioned to remodel the building in 1929.

This red-brick one-story building was completed and put in use for the school term of 1929-1930. The back of this school building was made out of the old native stone from the previous building.

The building had five classrooms, an office, a library, and auditorium. Before 1946, they had Kindergarten through 12th grade. In 1947, they adopted the 8th grade system, and high school students were bused to Stephenville.

In 1999, they had to tear down this school full of many memories because it was considered unsafe.

The current Bluff Dale I.S.D. elementary building was built in 1999 after the old building was considered unsafe and obsolete.

The elementary school has three exit doors and is built of a solid brick structure. There are 6 classrooms, a conference room, an office area, and a teacher’s workroom. Five portable buildings currently house storage and six additional classrooms. Security cameras are in place all around the building, and an intercom system is part of the main building.

The Community has played an important role in Bluff Dale School's History. Behind the school is playground equipment, assembled by many volunteers, and a new pavilion was added to the playground area just before school began in August 2006.

Sports as well as academics are important parts of the school. Bluff Dale has had boys’ and girls’ basketball and track for many years. Girls’ volleyball was added in the Spring of 2006. The volleyball team started its first two years with an undefeated record. Six-man football was added to the sports lineup in the fall of 2007 and has been a great addition. A new football field was erected in 2010.

Although Bluff Dale School has been through hard times, it still strives to achieve new goals and sets a great example for other schools in Region XI. Bluff Dale I.S.D. has been commended with the National Title 1 Distinguished School Award, recognizing its many years of excellence. Bluff Dale I.S.D. has been awarded the Texas Education Agency "Exemplary" District status for many years (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2010).

Bluff Dale Community History

The Native American Indians made the Paluxy Valley their home for years, possibly centuries, before the white men came with their plows and fences. Two tribes, which early settlers erroneously called Comanches, the Caddos and the Anadarkos, were the tribes prevalent in the area of present-day Bluff Dale. These two peaceful tribes fought alongside the Texas Rangers to keep the Comanches at bay. By 1860, the peaceful Caddos and Anadarkos had been moved from Texas to Oklahoma. The War Between the States (Civil War), Indian attacks, and raids by outlaw bands caused a decrease in settlers to the Paluxy Valley until about 1873. The Comanches were also finally removed from the valley about this time.

Most of the early settlers were recent arrivals from the ravaged southern states of the War Between the States, wanting a new start. These new settlers were drawn to our area because of the many artesian springs and the Paluxy River, numerous valleys that dropped and rolled into heavily wooded plains, open prairies, and fertile bottom lands. The Paluxy Valley was an ideal setting for the pioneers because the hills offered them unusual opportunities for raising livestock and dairy farming. In addition to livestock, the pioneers raised poultry, grew feed crops for their livestock as well as crops of cotton and peanuts. The settlers constructed fences of logs and rock. Today, remnants of those old rock fences can still be seen in places.

The town grew and was called Bluff Springs because of the numerous bluffs and springs in the area. Teams of oxen hauled in goods from Waco. Around 1877, the Chedester Overland Mail began a daily route from Fort Worth, Texas, to Fort Yuma, Arizona. It made stops in Bluff Springs, but the United States government refused to officially recognize the town because of another Bluff Springs already established in Texas. Captain Wesley Freeman, the town"s first postmaster, organized a town meeting to select a proper town name. He told the people that “dale” meant a smooth place between two bluffs, which led him to suggest the name Bluff Dale. It was agreed that Bluff Dale would be the town"s new name.

The first person born in Bluff Dale was Mrs. M.H. Logan. In 1870, Dr. H.O. Holt started practicing medicine and opened a drug store. During the latter part of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Bluff Dale was the hub for cotton farmers, cattlemen, and railroad transportation. There was a hotel, a livery stable, a furniture store, a dry goods store, grocery stores, a meat market, a barber shop, Warnock’s Hardware store, two cotton gins, and a depot. There were four passenger trains, each running twenty-four hours, two going east and two going west. People could board a train in Bluff Dale and go anywhere they wanted. There were several freight trains. Cattle pens were located on the north side of the railroad. Cowboys drove cattle from the ranches and penned them until the train could pick them up.

An old log house was the setting for the first Bluff Dale “subscription" school. Lum Stephens was the first teacher. In 1880, a box-stripped house was built, and in 1900, a new building was constructed on the site of the present school. The first two graduates of the school were Mr. Ralph Glenn and Miss Alice Holt Parker. In the spring of 1927, lightning struck the school, injuring several students and causing structural damage to the school. A new building was occupied in 1930. In 1999, this building was torn down, and the building that we have today was built.

The pioneers who settled our countryside and made it self-sustaining were strong men and women, capable of protecting themselves from frequent and troublesome Indian raids, clearing the land, and creating a place to grow their crops and their families. Bluff Dale has suffered through droughts, two world wars, floods, and other disasters, but the people who call it home would not live anywhere else. As one old pioneer said when she went to West Texas to visit, “I don’t like it here. It’s too far.” When asked what it was too far from, she replied, “Bluff Dale.”

The pioneer spirit of these brave people is still seen in many of the remaining ancestors of Bluff Dale’s settling pioneers. This pioneer spirit is also seen in the new people who come to Bluff Dale seeking to create a better life for their families. Whichever group of people you find yourself in our town, new or old; let all of US not forget…the future of our town is what WE make of it.