School History
The first school on this site opened in 1906 on what then were Rural and Jones avenues, and was called Rock Quarry School because of its proximity to the facility that now is the site of the Sunken Garden Theater at Brackenridge Park.
In 1908 the campus was named Gonzales Elementary School in honor of a Texas patriot, and also was called School #25.
The present building was constructed in 1948.
During the 1968-69 school year classes were combined with nearby McKinley Elementary. First- , 2nd- and 3rd-graders attended Gonzales while the higher grades went to McKinley. Both schools closed at the end of the 1974-75 school year because of declining enrollment.
In 1981 the building housed the Model Child Development and Day Care Management Training program of National Women’s Employment and Education Inc.
Rafael Gonzales (1789–1857), governor of Coahuila and Texas, was born in San Fernando de Béxar in 1789. He began his military career as a cadet in the presidial company of Nuestra Señora de Loreto. He was made second alferez in October 1810 and first alferez in 1813. He was promoted to second lieutenant on June 3, 1814, and moved to the presidio at Monclova. He became a first lieutenant on July 14, 1815, and captain on May 18, 1818.
On July 3, 1821, Gonzales joined the Mexican independence movement and on December 12, 1821, was made a lieutenant colonel. He was governor of Coahuila and Texas from August 15, 1824, to March 15, 1826.
In 1834 he was secretary of the comandancia of Coahuila and Texas. He died in 1857.
The present town of Gonzales, Texas, was named for him.