The Lakeview Elementary School campus has a long and significant role in Sugar Land’s history. In 1918 during the 4th session of the 35th legislature, Senate Bill No. 21 created the Sugar Land Independent School District No. 17 in Fort Bend County. It encompassed an area of 41.2 square miles. The bill was signed by the governor and filled with the Secretary of State on March 18, 1918. Over the ensuing years, the district grew to an area of 71 square miles.
The Sugar Land school, sited on today’s Lakeview campus, was the main campus for the district, although multiple schools in Mayfield Park, Grand Central, and other small rural communities served mostly minority students. (Local schools were not integrated until the 1965/6 school year.) The main school originally served students from K to grade 10. As Texas expanded the number of grades in its school system, SLISD added grades, reaching 12 in 1945.
In its first configuration, the school comprised a semi-circle of 10 cottage-style classrooms with an auditorium (still standing) at its apex. A second semi-circle of cottage-style classrooms was added in 1932. A gym (still standing) was located at the apex of the new additions. In the 1952/3 school year, more modern buildings, including a band hall, cafeteria, and new classrooms were added east of the existing semi-circles.
After SLISD consolidated with Missouri City ISD in 1959, the campus served elementary junior high students. The older buildings were demolished in the late 1960s and replaced with newer ones now on the site.
The school campus has changed dramatically over the years, but its past is still vivid, and almost tangible, for locals who attended the school in the old days.
The Sugar Land Heritage Foundation will participate in the celebrations with two Heritage Hikes through the Hill, starting and finishing at the School; and historic items will be on display in the school library.
Credit: Much of this information comes from research collected by Sybil Fowler, a devotee of our town’s history.