JISD Week of July 7, 2025 Newsletter

The paragraphs below are just a few snippets of the 

rich and vibrant history of Jasper.

Long inhabited by Native Americans and first traversed by Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century, the area first called Snow River (because of the snowy white sandbars in the many bends of the Neches River),later referred to as Bevil’s Settlement, and now known as Jasper, welcomed John Bevil in 1824. In the 1830s approximately 30 families joined Bevil, and in 1835, the community was renamed in honor of American Revolutionary War hero, William Jasper. 

Early Texas Patriots

A number of these early settlers, including Wyatt Hanks, George Smyth, James Blount, Stephen Everitt, and Thomas Holmes, convened with other Texas settlers to declare Texas’s independence from Mexico, establish the first government of the state, and create a constitution. Sam Houston passed through Jasper when returning from New Orleans where he had been recuperating from the wounds received in the Texas Revolution, and the citizens of the community hosted a ball in his honor.

Education in the Jewel of the Forest

The Jasper Collegiate Institute was organized on November 24, 1851, on the site of what is now Jasper Junior High School, for the “promotion of useful knowledge and the advancement of the sciences.” The Civil War led to the closing of the school, but it was reopened by an Act of the Texas Legislature in 1877 as the Southeast Texas Male and Female Academy. The school closed in 1910 and the property was deeded to the elementary and high schools of Jasper.

The Jasper County Training School was established in 1875. In 1924 Professor J.H. Rowe became the 18th principal to serve the school, and his tenure lasted until his death in 1943. Under his direction, the school grew its staff, expanded the curriculum to include classes in home economics and agriculture, and was accredited by the Texas State Board of Education in 1928. To honor Professor Rowe’s memory and legacy of achievement, the school was renamed J.H. Rowe High School in 1943. The school expanded further in the following years with the addition of a 15-room building including an auditorium that would seat 500, a gym, and a lighted football stadium that would seat 2000. Known for being highly competitive in both academic and athletic pursuits, the school’s football team won state in 1967. At the end of the 1967-1968 school year, integration brought about changes to the school as the older students transferred to Jasper High School, and the Rowe campus became Jasper Junior School, housing grades 5-8.

More information about the history of our community can be found at Early History Of Jasper, Texas, History and Growth of Jasper, Texas: From Settlement to Modern Day, and The Jasper County Historical Museum 

Check out Historical Markers in Jasper, Texas for a listing and map of the Historical Markers in Jasper, and don’t miss out on the Jasper County Heritage Festival.