Education became a major part of Howard County after its formal organization in 1882, when the first commissioners court ordered construction of a school building and created Howard County Common School District No. 1 in 1883. The Big Spring School District was established on December 14, 1901, and a new brick schoolhouse named Central Ward was built for students in all ten grades. Records show that in 1902 the county provided $40 per month for a teacher for African-American students. Within its first ten years, the district built two more elementary schools and a new high school. Oil discovered in the Permian Basin in the late 1920s brought growth and higher enrollment, and in the 1930s the Kate Morrison School for Mexican-American students, the Lakeview School for African Americans, and three other neighborhood elementary schools were completed. An early vocational cooperative education program in Big Spring was among the first of its kind in Texas. Enrollment rose again in the 1950s and 1960s and new schools were built because of Webb Air Force Base. In 1955, Big Spring became one of the first school districts in Texas to enforce the Supreme Court's decision against school segregation, and in 1964 it annexed the neighboring Gay Hill and Center Point school districts. Its many accomplishments during its first 100 years gave Big Spring schools a significant role in Howard County's educational history.