*The founding of the Crockett State School is celebrated on this date in 1927. This was a Texas Youth Commission juvenile correctional facility.
The Crockett State School, located in Crockett, Texas, was on a 125-acre farm about 115 miles north of Houston, TX, and students there committed various crimes, including truancy, property crimes, and crimes against persons.
History
In 1918, the Texas Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (TFCWC) began petitioning the state of Texas to create a "state-sponsored home for delinquent girls," and the club would donate the land. They are now the Texas Association of Women's Club. Club member Carrie Adams was very vocal about creating a training school for "delinquent Black girls." In 1920, TFCWC purchased the land. In 1927, the Texas Legislature authorized the establishment of youth correctional facilities for Black girls by the Texas State Board of Control. Mary Edwards Hunter wrote the 1927 legislation authorizing the training school. However, no money was appropriated for the school until 1945, despite the approval.
In 1945 the legislature provided funds to build the state school, which was first called the Brady State School for Negro Girls. In August 1946, the State Board of Control entered into a lease agreement with the Federal Government so the State of Texas could use a former prisoner of war camp in McCulloch County, near Brady. In February 1947, the Brady State School for Negro Girls opened; until the opening of Brady, there were no correctional facilities that admitted black girls.
1949, the State Youth Development Council took control of the Brady facility. In 1950, the State of Texas moved the black girls' state school to a former farm in Houston County, near Crockett, establishing the Colored Girls Training School at Crockett. The state moved the girls so the state could cut costs and so the girls could be closer to a Black community.
In 1957, the state school was under the control of the Texas Youth Council (now the Texas Youth Commission). It was integrated in 1966, so its name changed to Crockett State School for Girls. The juvenile facility closed in 1972. On December 13, 1973, the facility was renamed the Crockett State Home and used as a house and educational center for dependent and neglected children.
In 1975, the youth home operations stopped, and the Crockett State School re-opened as a juvenile correctional facility for boys. In 1979, the Gatesville State School closed, and Crockett took some students previously at Gatesville. On March 16, 2009, a 14-year-old boy incarcerated in Crockett hanged himself with his underwear in his room. On June 3, 2011, the TYC announced that the facility would close by August 31, 2011, due to budget cuts.
