Cedar Branch Community School The first written record of a school for the children of Cedar Branch appears in the Houston County Judge's Report of 1888. When the members of Cedar Branch Church constructed a new sanctuary in 1895, they donated the previous church building for use as a schoolhouse. By 1911, Cedar Branch had been designated as Common School District No. 8, and a two-room schoolhouse was later built on this site with support from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. In 1952, along with other nearby schools, Cedar Branch Community School District consolidated with Grapeland Independent School District. Long a focal point of the community, Cedar Branch School remains important to the area's heritage.