Northside will dedicate its 64th elementary school today and will honor a rancher who played an integral role in the education of children who lived in Northwest Bexar County at the turn of the 20th century.

In the late 1800s, Hoffmann and his wife purchased a 1,600-acre ranch on Culebra Road. The ranch already was home to an established one-room school, and Hoffmann donated four acres to the school so that it could expand. Hoffmann and his wife served as the major benefactors to the school, providing water, wood to heat the school, and room and board for the teacher.

The school, called Culebra, eventually became one of the original 11 schools that consolidated in 1949 to create Northside ISD. Hoffmann Elementary School was built on what was once one of the Hoffmann ranch pastures.

John Hoffmann Elementary School was built for 800 students and was constructed for $18.9 million with funding from School Bond 2007. It is one of four new Northside schools to open this year to accommodate enrollment, now at 91,578 and growing by about 3,000 students a year.