The Round Top-Carmine ISD began in 1944 as a result of the consolidation of thirteen, one and two teacher schools. The schools that were brought together were Bell Settlement, Carmine, Haw Creek, Hill’s, La Bahia, Nassau, Nechanitz, Quade, Rock Hill, Round Top, Waldeck, Walhalla, and Warrenton. This created 134.4 square miles in the new district with four school buses to transport the students. Members of the original Board of Trustees, representatives of the thirteen schools, were W.J. Neese, Bodo Kraus, Ewald Weigelt, Otto L. Fuchs, Sr., H.A. Schmidt, W.J. Braun, Walter Schellberg, Alfred Pietsch, H.C. Hannes, and Alvin M. Rauch. John G. Banik served as the first superintendent of the school district, while Awalt J. Harzke was named the secondary principal and Leola Tiedt became the elementary principal. Since the name Round Top-Carmine was rather lengthy, the initials RT-C became a shortened version of the school name. The colors of black and gold were chosen as the school colors and a bear “Cub” was selected as the mascot. The school song, “Dear RT-C”, was written in 1947 by Doris E. Kuhn of Carmine, who was an elementary teacher at the time.

The high school was housed in the native rock building that was erected in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and is still in use today. In 1953, a new elementary school was built just outside of Round Top. In 1995, an addition was added to the high school to provide more classrooms and a new library. In 1998, a new Agriculture Science complex was built at the high school, the old elementary wings were remodeled, and a new administration/library/cafeteria building was added on the elementary campus. In 2018 the high school added another wing to create a cohesive campus layout while adding more classrooms.

Shown below are pictures from the early 1900s taken at the Walhalla and Nechanitz schools.