On March 27, 1922, the Board of the Corpus Christi Independent School District voted unanimously to appoint Miss Mary Carroll to the position of Superintendent. She became the first female, and to date the only woman, to hold the office of Superintendent of CCISD. She would remain in that position for 11 years.
Miss Carroll was born on August 6, 1883, in Corpus Christi. She was the daughter of Charles Carroll and Mary Jane Devine. Her Dad was a carpenter who designed and constructed St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Carancahua Street in 1880.
The family moved to Monterrey, Mexico in 1888, where Charles opened a furniture factory. There, daughter Mary grew up and became fluent in the Spanish language. When the family returned to South Texas, 16-year-old Mary began teaching Spanish in surrounding rural schools.
In 1901, 18-year-old Mary Carroll was hired to teach Spanish in Corpus Christi schools. When Corpus Christi High School principal Moses Menger died in 1920, Miss Mary Carroll was asked by the School Board to become the school’s new principal, which she accepted.
After one year as CCHS principal, she was then offered the job of Superintendent of Schools. As Superintendent, she oversaw the massive growth of CCISD during the 1920s and the construction of a new high school in 1929. It was her idea to create the district’s first junior high schools in 1929…the one major achievement of which she was most proud.
Throughout her time as Superintendent, Corpus Christi High School maintained the state’s highest ranking (only 144 Texas high schools out of 1,000 schools in the state held this ranking in 1933). The ranking meant that every graduate of CCHS would be admitted to any university in the country without having to take entrance exams.
Most citizens of Corpus Christi, and Mary Carroll herself, were shocked when the School Board asked her to submit an application to continue as Superintendent in 1933. It was the first time in her career that she had to apply for any position. For purely political reasons, on April 18, 1933, the School Board rejected Miss Carroll’s application and named CCHS principal Dr. E. H. Hereford as CCISD’s new Superintendent.
Mary Carroll earned her Master’s Degree from U-T in 1934 and would teach for another 10 years in Valley schools before her retirement. She returned to Corpus Christi in 1944 and resided in the old family home at 910 S. Carancahua for the remainder of her life.
In 1957, CCISD honored Mary Carroll by naming the city’s newest high school after her. She was personally on hand for the dedication of the new school on October 1, 1957.
Miss Mary Carroll, who devoted her entire life to education, would pass away on November 29, 1971 at the age of 88. She is buried beside her sister, Katherine (also a longtime CCISD teacher) in Seaside Cemetery.
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.
