Wood County did not have public schools until 1884. From the arrival of the first settler, Martin Varner, in 1841, the county had only pay or subscription schools. On April 24, 1871, the State of Texas approved section five of an act to organize and maintain a system of public free schools in the State of Texas, and after that date property owners in Wood County were assessed a school tax in accordance with section five. During a special session of the 18th Legislature on January 8, 1884, Wood County was ordered divided into school districts including Quitman, Lone Star, Myrtle Springs, Forest Hill, Cartwright, Caney, Rock Hill, Forest Home, Winnsboro, Chalybeate Springs, Spring Hill, Smyrna, Cold Springs, Shady Grove, Center Point, Pleasant Grove, Floyd's Common Ridge, Mount Pisgah, Liberty, Sand Springs, Fletcher, Pleasant Divide, Friendship, Lone Point, Albie, Salem, Webster, Persimmon Grove, Cottonwood, Macedonia, Concord, New Hope, Dyess, and Mt. Enterprise. Negro schools were Quitman Cedar Tree, Robinson's Chapel, Muddy Creek, Mount Zion, Tranquil, Center, Hawkins, and District 48, which was all the district west of Lake Fork and Shiloh.