Meadowbrook Elementary - Richland Elementary

Located right across Meadowbrook Drive from Meadowbrook Junior High, Meadowbrook Elementary was housed in a gracious old c.1936 building. Before the Junior High was built about 1953 the older building had previously served as the Junior High.

I didn’t attend elementary classes in the old building. My first years were at Richland Elementary just off Baker Blvd. (old 183). Richland Elementary was built in 1953 to support the rapid post-WWII population growth occurring NE along 183. Hurst, Euless, and Bedford were just stoplights along the highway out in the country in those days. A short bike ride east of the school would put you into undeveloped land that was mostly flat and treeless.

One of the things I’ve been trying to better understand is who of our EH classmates attended Meadowbrook Elementary throughout their primary school years, 1951-1957. Mrs. Few’s class picture shows about half of them, I suspect. Some members of the other half were likely Gay Burton, Celia Beall, Julie Hudson, Glen Brandon, Sam Scott, Steve Means, Sharron Ballem, Candy Woodward, Paula Acuff, Mike Grizzard, Phil Nixon, Mike Cooper, Larry Guthrie, Linda Barr, Bill Winkler, Joe Dickerson, Bob Ladd, Carole Stallcup, Tee Mathews, Danny McCoy, Kendall McCook, Carolyn Marcotte. Others. I suspect there was one other class in addition to Mrs. Few’s.

Richland was in the Birdville ISD which after WWII was developing at a similar rate as Ft. Worth’s East Side. Large residential tracts of mostly modest sized homes were being built to house large numbers of WWII veterans just starting their families. However, the Birdville ISD schools put small yearbooks together for even the elementary grades where, for us in the Ft. Worth ISD, the yearbooks didn’t appear until our 10th grade year.

Paging through my 3 yearbooks for grades 4, 5, and 6 from Richland (1955, 1956, and 1957) provides a stark visualization of the beginnings of the Baby Boom as it started progressing through the schools. Our grade consisted of 2-classes. Those older than us consisted of either 2 or less classes; but those behind us were each 3-classes—a step increase of 50% more kids in each of the grades behind us. Remember the schools adding those “temporary” class buildings shortly after we started at each new school?

I’m actively looking for a scan copy of a Meadowbrook Elementary 6th grade class showing one or more of those listed above.

Adios