Globe Hill
Lee County, TX
Status: Located – Needs More Research
Year Established: 1887
Council of Governments: CAPCOG
Public History: There are no current descriptions related to Globe Hill in the public record. If you are aware of any sources that we may have missed please share them with us.
Community History: “From TSHA Handbook of Texas: “”Globe Hill is on a gravel road two miles east of Giddings and 1½ miles north of State Highway 290 in southeastern Lee County. George Coleman Truitt, founder of this predominantly black settlement, bought land in the area and built at least nine box houses there for his tenant farmers. Truitt also ran the community’s only business, a general store. In 1887 Truitt and Simon P. Davis selected a school site on a rock promontory called Rocky Hill, for which Truitt named the community. He later renamed the settlement Globe Hill. Truitt donated the land for the school and later provided the site for a cemetery. The schoolhouse, completed in November 1887, was also used for church services. In the spring of 1889 it was enlarged to accommodate the growing student population. Students from Jones Colony and Dockery began transferring to the Globe Hill school, and by 1908 it had an enrollment of at least forty-six. The Globe Hill Baptist Church was built in 1912 and still stood in the mid-1980s; at one time it had 200 members. A four-room Rosenwald School was eventually built across from the church. Globe Hill began to decline in the late 1930s, as the agricultural economy changed and families moved away. By the mid-1980s it had essentially been abandoned, but some former residents still returned to the church on the second Sunday of every month and attended an annual homecoming dinner on the second Sunday of each July.””
A THC Historical Marker was placed at Globe Hill Baptist Church and Cemetery in 2012. The marker notes that “”The schoolhouse, completed in November 1887, was also used for church services. The first teacher was Julia Donovan. In the spring of 1889, it was enlarged to accommodate the growing student population. By 1908, students from Jones Colony and the Joseph and Margaret Dockery settlement began transferring to the Globe Hill school and enrollment increased to forty-six students. The school was replaced in the early 1920s with a four-room Rosenwald School which was later annexed and moved to the Post Oak School in 1954. The Globe Hill Baptist Church was formed and organized by the community in 1912. An educator and reverend, Frank Ruffin, became the first pastor of the church. Under his leadership, the congregation grew to more than 96 members, with up to 200 attending at different times. Reverend Ruffin served the church until he passed away in 1939. A women’s mission was established that visited and cared for the needy and sick in the community. In the 1960s, the church was remodeled.””
According to Lee County Appraisal District data, the school parcel adjacent to the Globe Hill Baptist Church to the southeast is still owned by the Globe Hill School District #28. Globe Hill was listed in the Texas Standard, a publication of the Colored Teachers’ State Association of Texas, lists Globe Hill as an Honor School in 1951 with Lewis B. Carter serving as principal.”
Cemetery: Globe Hill Cemetery
Church: Globe Hill Baptist Church