About ten years after settlers began moving to this area, Hood County was formed from part of Johnson County in 1866. Cresson was platted in the late 1880s, and surveyor Madison Jones later deeded land at this site for school purposes. Like many surrounding rural communities, Cresson began its school program in a one-room schoolhouse just west of this site, which was torn down in 1890 when a two-story frame structure was erected here. That building served until 1918, when a larger red brick school replaced it, but the brick building later burned in October 1930. While the school district worked to build another schoolhouse, students attended classes at local churches. The M.l. Wallace & Co. architectural firm of Dallas designed the new building, and county school superintendent Victor B. Penuel selected its appearance. Completed in 1931, the yellow-brick Mission Revival schoolhouse contained an auditorium and four large classrooms, with cartouches and decorative window surrounds. Fund-raisers in later years added a kitchen and indoor restrooms. In July 1965, a severe storm damaged several buildings in Cresson, and lightning struck the school, damaging the central parapet on the main facade, which had been designed to resemble the curved parapet of the Alamo in San Antonio and was later replaced. After Cresson consolidated with Granbury schools in 1967, the building stood abandoned until a community group formed in the late 1970s to pursue its restoration. Today it serves as a community center and as a link to Cresson's early educational programs.