Thomas H. Harris served as State Superintendent of Education from 1908 to 1940, the longest and arguably most successful tenure in the history of Louisiana education. Under his leadership, Louisiana's public school system grew from meager beginnings into a system in which all children in the state had access to fairly good schools. Born on March 16, 1869, on a 250-acre farm two miles south of this site, Harris took responsibility for the family farm with his brother after their father's death in 1881, which kept him from attending school until 1889 at age 21. He advanced rapidly at Lisbon Academy, began teaching in rural schools, attended Homer College for the 1891 session, and studied for a year at the Louisiana State Normal School in Natchitoches in 1893. After holding a series of teaching positions around the state, he was appointed Superintendent of Education by Governor J. Y. Sanders in 1908. Harris died February 24, 1942, and was buried in Roselawn Cemetery in Baton Rouge.