Sam Houston Middle School, formerly Marshall Junior High School, opened in September, 1964, on East Border Street (now East Travis) to serve the seventh and eighth grades.
In 1971, Price T. Young Junior High School was designated an all-seventh-grade school, with Marshall Junior High becoming an eighth-grade school. When MISD reorganized under court order in 1981, the eighth-grade campus became one of two middle schools for fifth and sixth graders. Sam Houston Elementary School closed that year, and the newly organized middle school assumed the name.
The school’s namesake opened on East Houston Street as East End School September 25, 1905, and was renamed after the legendary Texas hero in the early 1920s. It was a high school only until the 1906-07 school year, during which grades 9-12 were moved temporarily to the Masonic Institute. On September 23, 1907, East End opened to students in grades 1-8.
An auditorium was added in 1925, the inside was improved in 1939-40, the auditorium was converted to a cafetorium in 1951 and the building was reroofed in 1954. On October 12, 1981, the Board of Trustees accepted a bid of $48,500 for the vacant building. In 1997, MISD once again gained ownership of the school in a court settlement. On April 5, 2004, the building returned to private ownership, with the District accepting a bid of $50,000.
In the summer of 1989, MISD paid to remove asbestos from the “new” Sam Houston School and to restore the ceiling.
In 2000-01 Sam Houston was designated “Recognized” by Texas Education Agency for performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills.
