Gaston I.S.D     "Red Devils"

Gaston School, the school of the East Texas Discovery Well's community, was designated the "Largest Rural School in the World," in the early 1930's. The exact date is not known, however, a copy of the Henderson Daily News, dated April 10, 1932, acknowledges the title. A news reporter once described Gaston as "One of the finest school plants built in the shadow of the East Texas Oil Field."

Gaston School was founded in 1925 when two community schools, Miller and Mt. Hope, consolidated and desired a centralized location for a new school to be built. Mrs. Irene Gaston, a teacher in the Mt. Hope School, and her husband, Hugh L. Gaston donated nine acres for the new school site. The new school was named Gaston in their honor. The new school building was designed to house approximately 80 students. The annual enrollment averaged between 70 to 80 students. This area, Cyril, was a sparsely populated farming community. Life changed in the fall of 1930.

The discovery of oil October 3, 1930, with C. M. 'Dad' Joiner's, Daisy Bradford #3, created boom towns through the entire area. The community of Cyril, soon changed its' name to Joinerville, in honor of 'Dad' Joiner. Due to the 1929 Depression, people came from all over the U. S. searching for jobs. Suddenly, the small Gaston School had approximately 750 students.

The school not only had classes in their school building, but also under the trees, and in nearby churches. Within a short time, oil companies and volunteers built long narrow buildings with petitions for classrooms. Student enrollment continued to grow. During the 1930's other community schools of Carlton, Burford and New Harmany consolidated with Gaston.

The school board worked diligently to provide a proper school for the increasing student population. With the tax base increasing, money was not a problem. Plans included purchasing additional property to enlarge the school campus. The first building was dedicated in April 1932. When the building program was completed it resembled a college campus. The beautiful native rockwalls surrounding the campus were built by the Works Project Administration, better known as the WPA. The campus included ten buildings, plus a football field, baseball field, six tennis courts, power plant, bus shed, and water tower. The campus had paved walkways, a circle drive, rose garden, shrubs, trees and grassy campus with a playground.

The school board provided a beautiful education facility and an excellent teaching staff. Gaston's above average pay scale made it possible to hire many teachers with Masters Degrees. The Board's goal, to provide an excellent school for children of the oil field area to obtain a good basic education, was successful. Many Gaston students left the campus and made their mark on the world. The Gaston forefathers planned well. The children in the area reaped the benefits and now strive to preserve the heritage and history of this area. The Gaston Alumnus established Gaston Museum and invites others to join with them in this preservation project.

Gaston Independent School District, home of the Gaston Red Devils, stood on the hillside, overlooking U. S. Highway 64, the pride of its' communities through the 1965 school term. Due to the decrease in student population and oil production, the schools of Gaston and New London consolidated in 1965 to form the West Rusk County Consolidated Independent School District.

A Texas State Historical Marker, for the Gaston Public School Complex was dedicated in June 1994 and is located on this site.