Established in 1923 by the Goose Creek Independent School District, Baytown Mexican School was the first educational facility for Mexican American children in the community. School was first held in the Mexican community recreation hall owned by Humble Oil and Refining Company, staffed not by professional teachers but by female students from Robert E. Lee High School, with a mission of receiving young Spanish-speaking children and transitioning them to English. In 1927, land was purchased for a senior high school building and a Mexican grade school building, and the three-room school at 3010 Magnolia Street opened for classes in 1928. Its first teachers were Miss Jessie L. Pumphrey, the principal, Miss Bertie Walker, and Miss Celeste Dashiel. In the 1930s, the teachers developed a very short list of English words, later expanded by teacher Elizabeth Burrus into a 400-word book that brought her notice in the Saturday Evening Post in 1961. In 1938, the school was renamed De Zavala for Lorenzo de Zavala, interim vice president of Texas in 1836. After the school closed in 1969, the building was used from 1970 to 1972 for a Head Start program, and the original building was demolished in 1995, while its cornerstone is now displayed at the Baytown Historical Museum. The school also had a place in local Hispanic culture through Antonio Banuelos, who started La Tipica All-Girls Orchestra there in 1937.