Editing Groesbeck, Texas (section)

=== Post War Years ===

In 1960 the population of Groesbeck was 2,500.  The housing situation was critical since over 55% of citizens were low-income, and there were only 34 vacant housing units. In 1962 the Groesbeck Housing Authority was created by mayor George Koch, and the city began plans to construct low-income housing. In August of 1964, the Groesbeck Housing Authority approved plans for Liberty Village and Liberty Square apartments, affordable housing units that were built on opposite ends of town.<ref>https://atlas.thc.texas.gov/NR/pdfs/100002847/100002847.pdf</ref> 
:“We are building the housing units because we have many citizens who are living in substandard housing. We have many retired people and other old-age citizens who are virtually living in slum areas.” - Mayor George Koch<ref>https://atlas.thc.texas.gov/NR/pdfs/100002847/100002847.pdf</ref>
The project was finished with 12 units in July 1965, and it was revealed that a policy of segregation was used in selecting tenants. The exact date of desegregation is not know, but it likely happened in response to the [[Fair Housing Act of 1968]].<ref>https://atlas.thc.texas.gov/NR/pdfs/100002847/100002847.pdf</ref> The apartments were successful at housing elderly and low-income individuals, so the apartments were expanded and 15 more units finished construction in 1973. Both sites still function as [[Subsidized housing in the United States|government housing]].

In August 1966, a team sent by the federal [[United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare|HEW Department]] investigated Groesbeck ISD and found they had maintained a segregated school system for 12 years after [[Brown v. Board of Education]], and that facilities in the all-white school were "vastly superior." Within 2 weeks of federal intervention, 22 black students transferred within the district. Longtime district superintendent H.O. Whitehurst resigned the same year, after 35 years. Full intergration was not achieved until the 1969-70 school year. The 1969 class of Washington High School was the last segregated graduating class in Groesbeck.<ref>https://www.groesbeckjournal.com/area-news/washington-high-school-history</ref>

In 1979, [[NRG Energy]] proposed construction of a $1.6 billion coal-burning power plant near Groesbeck. It finished construction in 1985.<ref>https://clui.org/ludb/site/limestone-power-plant</ref> The power plant increased the tax base and brought many jobs to Groesbeck. Between 1985 and 1989, Groesbeck ISD spent $18 million constructing a new elementary and a high school,<ref>https://clui.org/ludb/site/limestone-power-plant</ref> and in 1991 the high school football team went undefeated and claimed the AAA Championship.<ref>https://www.uiltexas.org/files/athletics/state-football/boxscores/19913AFBBOX.pdf</ref> After 1993, the Texas Legislature enacted the [[Robin Hood plan]], which redistributes the taxes earned from the power plant more equitably across Texas school districts.