Mary Withers Pierce School

2400 Block Fourth Street

MARY PIERCE WITHERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PIERCE PRIMARY SCHOOL
1953 - 2002

The Pierce family donated the property for the Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School.

2300 Block Fourth Street
Site of Jefferson Davis School

Mary Pierce Withers
Daughter of Abel Head "Shanghai" Pierce & France E. Lacy Pierce
July 17, 1867 - January 6, 1923

Four New Rooms To Be Added At Pierce School

Work on four new class rooms to be built on the north side of Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School is slated to begin "in the near future," Superintendent John H. Cherry said Monday.

The contract was let to James Kershaw last week at a regular meeting of the school board.

Bay City News, April 26, 1956

Summer Building At Pierce Start Of Enlargement

The four new classrooms to be constructed this summer at Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School will be built on to the first two wings of the building on the north side.

B. E. Liston, business manager of the schools, said that when school enrollment grows so that the school cannot take care of all its students easily, the two back wings will also have additions built on them.

When this is done, a walkway adjacent to the wings will be built to prevent congestion as students leave the building.

James Kershaw won the contract with a low bid of $36,962. High bid of the seven offers for construction was $54,599.

Mr. Liston said that part of the third grade at Tenie Holmes Elementary school may be moved to Pierce next year.

Bay City News, April 26, 1956

Pierce Will Be Ready If Steel Strike Allows

Construction of four new rooms at Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School probably will be completed by the time school opens if the steel strike doesn't hold up metal window units.

B. E. Liston, Bay City Independent School District business manager, stated that the additions to the two north wings on the west side of the building will cost approximately $46,675.

This estimate includes the furnishings. All equipment is on hand or can be secured with the exception of the window frames.

In summer work at other Bay City schools, Tenie Holmes Elementary School is getting a new hall water fountain and a sink is being installed in a room to be used for art.

The junior high school building is getting a complete redecoration with the school doing the work. No contract was let.

The high school is getting three new classrooms under the auditorium. They will serve as commercial department rooms and a band practice room. Contract, let to Louis Hagaman, amounts to $20,916.

In the colored schools, the old Hilliard building is being repainted and a vocational agriculture and athletic rooms are being built by Albert Hite. The 26-feet-by-120 feet unit will cost $18,739.

Bay City News, Thursday, July 26, 1956

Teacher Additions

In teacher additions announced by the superintendent's office this week, John Hill will serve as principal at Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School next year...

Bay City News, Thursday, August 2, 1956

Little Chance Pierce Building Will Be Ready By School Time
Hilliard High School Addition Slated For Completion About Mid-September

There is little chance that the addition on the west end of Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School will be completed by September 4 when school starts.

However, Business Manager B. E. Liston was confident that the building would be ready by the middle of September.

The addition is about 50 percent complete with the frame and roof up and brick work beginning. Still to be put in place are the metal window frames, which were held up by the steel strike.

Slated to be completed at about the same time as the Pierce work is the Hilliard High School addition just west of the colored school's cafeteria.

Housed in the unit will be one classroom, a vocational agriculture shop room, and an athletic room. The building is 26 by 120 feet.

Mr. Liston also announced that the school has taken delivery on one new school but which will take the load off the Matagorda and Wadsworth route.

The Bay City Independent School District now has six but routes; three run by the school, two on contract, and one negro route also on contract.

Bay City News, Thursday, August 16, 1956

130 Bay City Teachers Wait For School Bells

When the school bells ring out next Tuesday, some 130 Bay City Independent School District teachers will be on hand to open the doors.

The two elementary schools, Mary Pierce Withers and Tenie Holmes, will have the largest number of teachers with 55. The high school will be second with 31, Hilliard colored school will have 28, and junior high will trail with 18 instructors.

Teachers
High School	Junior High School	Elementary Schools	Hilliard
Mrs. Ruby Ballard James I. Barron, Mrs. Maurice Broughton Miss Lucille Christenberry Mrs. Bess Early Erwin Graeter Mrs. Cecil Gregory Mrs. Arthur Harris Jr. Don Haley Mrs. Keye Ingram Charles King Sam Maglitto E. D. Marling Rovvie McCarty Vance McDonald Mrs. Nola Mae McWilliams E. J. Myers Phil Point Miss Mattie Sue Ringgold Joe Rogers Orland Schraub Mrs. Spurgeon Smith Miss Bonnie Southwell James D. Sowell Kermit Spielman Mrs. A. N. Sullivan George Valon Dr. Mary Valon Albert Wynn	Mrs. Frank Balusek Mrs. Sue Beeman Henry Black Miss Emma Chamrad Robert Conklin Mrs. D. A. Einkauf Fred Goeke Roy C. Harris Miss Margaret Holsworth Mrs. Ed Jecmenek Kenneth Kerley Miss Della S. Oliver Edwin A. Peters Mrs. Helen B. Smith Mrs. D. M. Staten Mrs. Vevi Stevnes Miss Valeria Sweeny Mrs. Jo R. Williams	Mrs. Kyle Alford Mrs. Carmen S. Anderson Mrs. Connie Anderson Miss Edith Armstrong Mrs. Etta Mae Baker Frank J. Balusek Mrs. Nettalie Russell Bateman Mrs. Peggy Chapman Mrs. John H. Cherry Mrs. Warren Criswell Mrs. Kathryn E. Davis Miss Pearl Donoway Mrs. Fred Goeke Mrs. Esther N. Hall John Hill Mrs. Ivie Y. Humber Mrs. Roberta Irwin Mrs. Kay Johnson Mrs. Ahoda King Mrs. J. Sewell Lawson Mrs. B. E. Liston Miss Pearl Love Miss Ethel Manning Mrs. H. J. McAllister Mrs. Violet McKnight Mrs. Ellen L. Minkert Mrs. Norene Nelson Mrs. H. A. Newton Mrs. Lewis Nygard Mrs. Curtis D. Owen Mrs. Frances Patterson Mrs. Mary Peterson Mrs. Joe Rogers Miss Sybil Runnells Mrs. Jerry Salyer Mrs. Elaine Scoggin Mrs. Herman Scott Miss Bess Senour Mrs. Lena Maude Shaffer Mrs. Aileen Warnock Mrs. Denton Wiginton Miss Kay Wood Mrs. Jack Young Mrs. Albert Younts	Mrs. Grace L. Banks Mrs. Rosa L. Brown Mrs. Vivian E. Woods Baldridge Mrs. Tommie Lola Brown Miss Barbara Caesar Emmett Lee Caldwell Miss Rosie Sutton Castilow Mrs. Annie Mary Colvin Mrs. Thelma Mae Fletcher Fountain Mrs. Hilda B. Francis James Gentry Jean Jackson Mrs. Ernestine Law Mrs. Nina Am McGaffey Mrs. Hattie Mae Peters Miss Doris Rose Preston Mrs. Olivia V. Rhambo Mrs. Thelma D. Smith Mrs. Albennie Thomas Joe D. Washington James White Woodridge Mrs. Juanita Hardeman Wright Mrs. Julia M. Wright Dave Young Mrs. Grace N. Young Sydney Pernetter

Business Rooms In Auditorium To Be Ready This Week

Work on the commercial department rooms in the new Bay City auditorium is expected to be completed by the latter part of this week.

Windows for the Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School addition still have not arrived although they were ordered several weeks ago.

Bay City News, Thursday, September 20, 1956

Window Frames Finally Arrive For Pierce School

Metal window frames for the new addition at Mary Pierce Withers Elementary School have finally arrived and carpenters are busy installing them.

Superintendent John H. Cherry said there is also some finishing work required but that the building should be completed in a week or so.

Bay City News, Thursday, September 27, 1956

Boys & Girls Club of Bay City and Matagorda County
Photos taken August 22, 2019

Original entrance for Pierce Elementary

The office area was used by Bay City ISD publicity department before and after the Boys & Girls Club relocated to this location.

Cafeteria at left and entrance at right

Entrance and North Wing

North and middle wings with walkway running north and south on the west end of the wings.
Playground equipment added for the Boys and Girls Club.

Outside gym added for the Boys and Girls Club

Original playground for Pierce Elementary and now Boys and Girls Club. Same angle as the black and white photo at the top of the page.

Playground view from the west. Site of Jefferson Davis School.

Four room addition built on the south side of the playground for kindergarten students at Pierce Elementary.
After Pierce was closed, it was used for the district technology equipment and staff.

West side walkway taken from the south.

South wing taken from the west.

South wing from the east.

East end of the south wing with middle wing on the right.

East entrance of the cafeteria used as the original entrance for the Boys and Girls Club.