This site was given by Harper McCaughan in 1885 for school purposes only. W. J. Quarles began teaching 11 children in his home on Railroad Street from 1884 to 1886. A one-room wood-frame school was erected in 1886 and enlarged in 1887. The first brick building was built in 1906, where a principal and four teachers taught 10 grades. A new Long Beach school was built in 1926, and 12 grades were taught there from 1926 to 1956. The Long Beach School District was organized in 1927. The school became Jeff Davis Elementary from 1956 to 1976. The building was demolished in 1978. A new Jeff Davis Elementary was built in 1980 and renamed Harper McCaughan Elementary in 1982 in honor of the property donor. All school buildings on the site were demolished in 2007 after extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina.