Hess

Hess was north of Vancourt in eastern Tom Green County. Settlers there in the 1890s and early 1900s included the Averitt, Barron, Denton, Hess, Powell, Seals, Steadman, and Whittle families. Dr. D. L. Hess and his wife, Ora, deeded land for a community school on April 14, 1905. The schoolhouse was built on the south side of Farm Road 765 three miles east of the Concho county line. The building was also used for Sunday worship services and as a community center; a new room was added in 1910. The school had classes through the seventh grade in some years and through the eighth grade in others. Local students completed high school in nearby Wall, Eola, or San Angelo. In the 1930s Hess comprised the school and a few scattered dwellings. In 1940 the Hess school and Averitt school were consolidated into the Hess-Averitt school, which in 1941 was in turn consolidated with the Vancourt school to become Hess-Averitt-Vancourt school at the same site. In December 1950 it was consolidated with the Wall school. By the 1980s only a few scattered dwellings remained in the area.