New Adventures in Coppell, TX

I recently accepted a phenomenal job offer as a AP United States History teacher at Coppell High School. I am thrilled beyond words since this is a dream job, and I plan to make a positive and profound impact on many students and young history-buffs! This does mean that I will be leaving A&M-Commerce at the end of July, and will thoroughly miss being part of the Lion family. I intend to finish my TAMUC research and hopefully publish my discoveries in the near future. I will miss the connections I made at TAMUC, yet am very excited to make new professional relationships at CHS and in Coppell ISD. Also, since I am a 2012 New Tech High @ Coppell graduate and spent most of my teenager years in Coppell, I am overjoyed to return home to my 'ole stomping grounds and give back to the thriving community I once adored. Below is a brief history of Coppell (information from the City of Coppell and The Coppell Historical Society websites).

I am elated to have received a job opportunity at Coppell High School. The city's inaugural high school was located at the CHS 9's current site prior to its relocation in 1989. Photograph by J. Chanin.

The farming community of Grapevine Springs was created in 1832 and played host to a peace treaty in the 1840s between Sam Houston (then president of the Republic of Texas) and local Indians. This area is now known as Grapevine Springs Park. Settlers, mostly of German or French descent, began moving into the region soon after. Dallas County was organized in 1846, and the City of Dallas was established in 1856. The City of Coppell was originally called 'Gibbs' in honor of former Texas Senator and Lieutenant Gov. Barnett Gibbs. The agricultural community changed its name to Coppell by 1890, after George Coppell, a distinguished New York businessman who funded the construction of railroads in the Lone Star State. The town's post office name was changed to Coppell in 1892. Since the Cotton Belt Railroad (part of the St. Louis and Southwestern Texas Railroad) weaved through North Texas, Coppell's population drastically increased at the end of the nineteenth century; the community had four stores, a lumber yard, blacksmith shop, a school and cotton gin in 1893. By 1909, a second school was constructed west of Coppell's center, and a newspaper, the Coppell Informer, was published for the first time. Dallas County partnered with city administrators and built a watering trough in Coppell in 1911. The community's three schools (Bethel, Coppell, and Gentry) consolidated into one Coppell school in 1928; this school would eventually be burnt down and rebuilt in 1950. The new Coppell School, which stood on the site of Pinkerton Elementary, was 8,000 square feet, cost $21,000 to construct, and served 154 students (according to a 1950 Dallas Morning News article). The Coppell Independent School District, my future employer, was established in 1959, and the city's high school was built in 1967 (at the current location of CHS 9th Center). Coppell was officially incorporated in 1955, and R.M. Johnson, a prominent attorney, was elected the city's inaugural mayor on January 7, 1955. When the enormous neighboring Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1974, Coppell blossomed into prosperous community of doctors, scholars, politicians, immigrants, and business leaders. Today, Coppell is home to over 41,000 people (including young families) and several renowned business headquarters, including Amazon, Ci Ci's Pizza, Staples, and 7-Eleven. Coppell's future looks very bright, and I am ecstatically happy that my wife and I are going to be a part of Coppell's story.

A class at Coppell's Gentry School, c. 1925. The city's three existing schools consolidated in 1928. Photograph found on The Coppell Historical Society webpage.

I ask that you continue to follow my teaching and history adventures on this blog as I plan to share my scholarship, lesson plans, and students' work (with their permission). I am 'over the moon' at this unique opportunity and I intend to 'bring history to life' in my classroom as well as inspire future generations of students to seize the leadership mantle and not be afraid to change the world!

Coppell is named after George Coppell, a New York bond holder in the St. Louis and Southwestern Texas Railroad. Mr. Coppell, who immigrated to the United States at age 21, worked in the British Consul and with Maitland, Phelps & Co., a banking firm, for most of his life. It is rumored that he never visited the town named after him. Photograph found on The Coppell Historical Society webpage.