Old Bowling School & Cemetery

06/04/2026

Meeting Notice:
June 13th at 10 am
Pot luck lunch following meeting
Bring your lawn chair
At this time we collect money for the cemetery expenses,if you have family in the cemetery we ask that you help by donating for the upkeep to keep our cemetery looking good.
Come and see the new look of the school house
Hope to see you there!

Send a message to learn more

05/30/2026

Thanks to everyone who sent us leads on the windows. We went to Hillsboro on Monday to Terry Cunningham's place (has old lumber, etc) He didn't have the size we needed, but he took the time to give us several leads. One of his recommendations was Orr-Read in Dallas, we made the trip Friday and did they have lots of windows, rolls and rolls. After spending several hours measuring windows, we were able to find the 5 we needed and grab 2 extra for parts. The people at Orr-Reed were very helpful and kind. They were just as excited as us that we found what we needed. They look rough now, but after cleanup and paint they will look good as new, well almost giving how old they are. Terry Cunningham and Orr-Reed are both salvage yards saving the old wood, windows and parts from old buildings that are being tore down.

05/17/2026

Our yearly meeting is coming up on June 13th at 10 am. at this time we take donations for the cemetery upkeep. The funds for upkeep have been getting lower every year to where we are not collecting enough for upkeep. So if you have a loved one buried or plan on being buried at Old Bowling Cemetery, we ask that you help by donating. We invite everyone to come and join us for Lunch on the grounds and visit. Thanks to Steven and Kim Payne, who do a great job keeping the cemetery looking good.

Donations can be mailed to:
Old Bowling Cemetery
13387 CR 344
Marquez, TX 77865

05/17/2026

Phase 3 final stage of siding replacement. We still have one more side to finished when funds allow. Just the siding replacement will cost around 15,000, but we also need to find 5 windows to restore for installing, and this could cost up to 2,000. So to be on the safe side if cost does not go up before raising the money, we will need around 18,000. Thanks to Nucor Steel's donation and a few others, we have 7,000 as of now. We will be starting some fundraiser in the near future, including a raffle, so if you would like to help with donating or a raffle item, let us know. None of this would of been possible with out all of the community support thru the years. It is hard to believe we have raised over 56,000 dollars for repairs, not including the cost we had when the building was vandalized, that cost us around 20,000 at that time, so with the help of our awesome supporters we have actually raised over 76,000 dollars in the last 13 years. There were times we did not think it would ever happen and we would lose our old schoolhouse before we could raise enough money for repairs. So a great big THANK YOU to all who have stood with us on this project. Just one more side to get done.

05/17/2026

Phase two was started this year in April of 26 and completed in May 26. Construction was done by WWW Construction from Normangee, Brad Smith owner. This consist of replacing the siding on 2 sides of the building with OSB siding, house wrap painting, and installing 3 windows at the cost of 27, 487.00 Th ese guys did a awesome job and worked fast, I did not get many pictures of the job due to them always 3 steps ahead of me. Thank you Brad for a job well done.

05/17/2026

Phase 1 was completed in two stages. 1st the leveling of the building was done in July of 25 by Structural Foundation Repairs of Houston, the crew put 2 more beams under the building and leveled the whole building at the cost of 14,340.00. The storm had knocked the building almost off some of the blocks and was leaning to the left. The build stands tall and straight now. The 2nd stage was started in Dec of 25 and completed in Jan of 26 by Skyline Construction From Centerville, Flint Doak owner. The storm had done extensive damage to the back side and part of the roof. The repairs included, fixing the west gable wall, replacing the siding with OSB siding, house wrap, installing the two upstairs windows, replacing a piece of tin on the roof. They also took some of the old siding and filled in the gaps on the cemetery side of the building at the cost of 14,090.00. Both of these Crews did and outstanding job. A big thank you to Structural Foundation and Fint Doak with Skyline Construction for taking good care of our building.

05/11/2026

Thank you Nucor for the generous donation for the restoration of the Old Bowling School.

05/10/2026

The windows have been installed, now the painters will come back and do the finish up paint job and phase 2 will be complete. Thanks to all who have made this possible. Next step is to raise the money to do the back side of building.

05/09/2026

Edited: 5/17/26 Here are a few pictures of the inside of the school. You can see the original desk and caulk boards

05/06/2026

The Building was painted today. Just need the 3 windows installed to finished this phase of restoration.