Fred Carpenter, here on the old bench in front of Clark’s Grocery Store, was known to Buda residents as a great storyteller. He often rode his horse into town and tied it up to the windmill behind Garison’s service station, which is currently the Hays Free Press office in downtown Buda at the corner of FM 967 and Main Street. Carpenter Hill Elementary opened in Buda this semester and will be dedicated on Saturday. (File photo by Tim Price)
Cyrus Milton Carpenter (1841-1922) and wife, Charlotte Agitha Clayton Carpenter (1850-1939) were the parents of Fred Carpenter, who is the namesake of Carpenter Hill Elementary. Cyrus, a circuit-riding (and, later, local) minister, was the son of the original settler on Carpenter Hill, William Henry Harrison Carpenter. (COURTESY SAN MARCOS HISTORICAL COLLECTION AT THE SAN MARCOS PUBLIC LIBRARY)
by JIM CULLEN
A year ago, Hays CISD Superintendent Jeremy Lyon used his convocation speech to a packed house of district employees to stress the importance of honoring local heritage. Lyon’s belief in the strings of that heritage binding the community to its past will once again be recognized this Friday with the dedication of Carpenter Hill Elementary School.
Many of the school district’s pioneering individuals sat in the front row of the audience the day he spoke. Hays CISD reinforced the idea a few weeks later with the dedication of D.J. “Red” Simon Middle School, where the Wolverine student body met their school’s namesake, a school district consolidation pioneer over 40 years ago, and his family. Many more of the district’s longtime workers and supporters attended.
“Heritage” will once again be on full display at the Carpenter Hill Elementary dedication as the students and staff of the newly-opened campus learn the history of their school’s name and meet some of the present-day descendants of the family that gave the area its name.
There’s a cherished heritage involved with the family name and the new school’s location. It’s multi-generational and stretches back over a century and a half, long before there was a Buda or Kyle, and when the more well-known communities in the area were known by names like Science Hall, Mountain City and Elm Grove. Many stories surround the family that gave its name to Carpenter Hill but, for the sake of clarity, consider the family’s first three generations, the time line stretching from a pre-Civil War arrival here to the 1970s.
Among the earliest settlers in the area west of today’s Buda was W.H.H. Carpenter, who in 1855 bought the property that, because of the family’s occupation on the high ground, came to be known as Carpenter Hill. Indians still roamed this area when the Carpenters settled. It’s situated within a few stone’s throw from where Carpenter Hill Elementary students attend school today. Carpenter had taught earlier in his life and neighboring settlers briefly employed him at what was known as the Kellyville School one mile north of Buda.
Most prominent among the second generation of the family was W.H.H. Carpenter’s son, Cyrus Milton Carpenter. Twenty years of age as the Civil War broke out, he was among the many Hays County boys who volunteered for the Confederacy. He was turned down for service, the result of a medical physical, and ended up serving as a Methodist circuit preacher and, later, a local minister in the Buda area. He also published The Buda Star in the early 1900s.
It does no justice to this pioneer family to abbreviate their stories, but it was a locally-born son of Cyrus, Fred, whose third generation contributions permanently reinforced their family heritage. He was born just after Buda (nee Dupre) and Kyle were founded and he lived into the 1970s to become a family and community icon.
Born in his family’s still-standing log cabin, Fred was a lifelong cowboy and epitomized everything that profession represents. He was what historian Mary Giberson called “an impressive presence.” She called him “a pleasant, handsome, gentle, strong and vibrant man – good humored, witty, and an entertaining person with a strong sense of community spirit who remembered past events and loved to spread his stories of Buda to others.” A graduate of the one-time Elm Grove School, Fred Carpenter’s favorite place to spin stories of Buda’s past was on the bench in front of Cecil Clark’s grocery store (today’s Raby’s Roots).
As with his ancestors, Fred Carpenter’s life represented much more than told here, but it was in his name that his family members and others most fervently presented their case for the school’s naming. Many family members will have a place at Friday’s dedication and it’s likely today’s Carpenter Hill Elementary family will have a heightened appreciation for the heritage they now share.
Carpenter Hill Dedication
The dedication of Carpenter Hill Elementary will be at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 17. The school is located at 4410 RR 967 in Buda. The public is invited.
