Boyd School

In 1916 H. T. Boyd built a one room-building for use as a school and in September of that year his seven-year-old daughter, Kate, and his five-year-old son, Hiley, Jr., became the first students with Miss Katherine Jenkins as their teacher. Once old enough, Boyd's two youngest daughters, John Anna and Nell, also attended Boyd School. Eulalia Burrus, who lived on a neighboring ranch, was the only other school-aged child in Cochran County and began attending Boyd School in 1920, riding her pony two miles to the school.

Miss Jenkins lived with the Boyd family in the ranch house and was paid a monthly wage of $75.00 by the county. Miss Jenkins taught at the school for three years.

Miss Nova Brown taught the 1919-1920 school year and was followed by Miss Winnie Simmons, who taught at Boyd beginning in the fall of 1920. Miss Simmons married Harry Burrus in 1922 adn Mrs. H. T. Boyd died during the summer of that same year.

An unmailed letter was found in Mrs. Boyd's possession addressed to a prospective teacher. In the letter Mrs. Boyd wrote to the applicant

You must adjust to the customs and the hardships of the frontier and learn to appreciate the frontier and its future. Otherwise, you will experience loneliness and unhappiness on the prairie.

Boyd School did not have a teacher for the fall of 1922, but Frank Boyd, nephew of H. T. Boyd, came to the ranch to teach Hiley Jr. in 1923, the girls having been sent to Midland to an aunt. In the fall of 1924 Miss Lois Patterson began teaching at the one-room Boyd School, which was overflowing with fifteen students. New families had begun to settle in Cochran County, including the McCain, Crump, Woodley, Peoples, Harris, and White families.