Historic Laredo
An illustrated history of the city of Laredo and the Webb County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
An illustrated history of the city of Laredo and the Webb County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
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LAREDO<br />
INDEPENDENT<br />
SCHOOL<br />
DISTRICT<br />
✧<br />
Top: Urbahn Elementary School was<br />
constructed in the early 1920’s and is<br />
now part of the Vidal M. Treviño<br />
Magnet School in the historic St.<br />
Peter’s district.<br />
Below: Martin High School replaced<br />
old <strong>Laredo</strong> High in 1937. Old<br />
<strong>Laredo</strong> High School is now the La<br />
Posada Hotel.<br />
Public education in Texas was founded in<br />
<strong>Laredo</strong> on March 22, 1783, when the town<br />
council obeyed a royal decree that children up<br />
to the age of 12 were to learn to read and write<br />
and be taught Christian doctrine.<br />
Nearly a hundred years later, on June 29,<br />
1882, the <strong>Laredo</strong> City Council formulated the<br />
<strong>Laredo</strong> Independent School District in<br />
response to a petition raised by 20 citizens asking<br />
the city council to assume control of the<br />
public free schools in <strong>Laredo</strong>. Captain Edward<br />
R. Tarver was appointed the first superintendent<br />
at an annual salary of $750. From 1887-<br />
1901, H. G. Dickinson, Foxhall Parker, Louis<br />
D. Antin, Charles Pierce, and B. F. Pettus guided<br />
the district, followed by Louis J. Christen<br />
(1901-29); William P. Galligan (1929-46); J.<br />
W. Nixon (1946-73); Vidal Treviño (1973-95);<br />
Graciela Ramirez (1995-98); and Dr. Paul A.<br />
Cruz (1998-present).<br />
A committee of City Council aldermen<br />
appointed by the mayor, served as the executive<br />
school board from 1882 until 1899.<br />
At that time, a seven-member school board<br />
was elected.<br />
Over a hundred years after its founding,<br />
<strong>Laredo</strong> ISD has evolved from a one-room<br />
school system to a 30-campus district that<br />
served over 24,000 students in 1999, maturing<br />
into one of the best districts in the state for its<br />
size and resources. Always an educational innovator,<br />
the district established instructional programs<br />
from early childhood centers to technological<br />
programs for students in all grade levels.<br />
The performing arts for local high school students<br />
were greatly enhanced with the establishment<br />
of the Vidal M. Treviño School of<br />
Communications and Fine Arts in 1994. A new<br />
health and science magnet school opened in<br />
1999 at Martin High School.<br />
Existing facilities are continually modernized<br />
and new ones constructed to accommodate students<br />
well into the 21st century and to provide<br />
LISD students with a stimulating and invigorating<br />
educational setting. Technology has taken<br />
center stage, preparing students for future educational<br />
endeavors and the world of work.<br />
102 ✦ HISTORIC LAREDO
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