a Proud part of USGenWeb®
Austin School house being moved to Silt when Rifle Gap Reservior was built
The Buford Colorado Elemetary School, Teacher Miss May Rose Cordes (L-R) Ray Stephens, Stephens dog 'Tippy' Glen Stephens, Billy Guilford. See a glimpse of the town history
Buford School 40905 County Road 17 Buford, Colorado.
Coal Creek School is the oldest rural school, established in 1884.
The present building was built in 1892. Its unique and elaborate
construction included stone walls and a fancy gabled end with shingles
arranged in scalloped and diamond designs. A neat belfry originally
adorned the front of the building. The bell now resides at the White
River Museum.
In 1949, students were transported to Meeker and the
building was closed for school purposes but was utilized for community
gatherings.
Coal Creek School was placed on the Rio Blanco County
Historic Preservation list in 2013 and added to the State and National
Historic Register July 2014. Martha Cole in the 2nd image
presented the history of rural schools
The Coal Creek School was constructed in response to a need to
accommodate the growing rural population. An earlier 1884 log cabin at a
site half a mile to the east served as the first Coal Creek School until
the demand for space for the increasing population of students
necessitated a new building. When the present Coal Creek School was
built in 1892 the nearest other rural school was over five miles away.
Other rural schools weren't built within the school district until 1909
and 1916. Students for the Coal Creek School often traveled by horseback
or walked over dirt roads, hills and meadows five miles each way to and
from the school. Because of the long distances the students had to
travel daily, some families living near Coal Creek School would board
other children at their homes during the school terms.
Most of
the students came from the surrounding ranches and farms and ranged from
the first to eighth-grade level. After 1902 when a student graduated
from eighth grade they could attend the Rio Blanco County High School in
Meeker. Age wasn't always the criteria for what grade level a student
was assigned; in 1896 a young man from Sweden attended the school in
order to learn English.
The local school year grew from six
months in the 1890s to nine months in the 1930s-40s. In the 1890s and
early 1900s the school term often depended on available funds to hire a
teacher as well as when children were needed to help on the ranches and
farms for planting, working livestock, and harvesting. Enrollment at
Coal Creek School ranged from a high of twenty-eight students in 1903 to
six students in 1948. Enrollment often increased or decreased because of
national or local events. Declines in local manpower during World War I
and World War II resulted in some students having to attend school only
when they weren't needed on the ranches or farms. Highly contagious
diseases, illnesses, and the flu epidemic of 1917 and 1918 caused the
school to close for short periods. The 1930s Great Depression caused
many families to lose their farms and ranches and move away.
Many
rural schools began to close in the late 1940s and early 1950s,
encouraged by Colorado's School District Reorganization Act of 1949,
which followed a national trend of consolidation. Many Rio Blanco County
schools followed this same trend, closing in the short time span of
1948-50. When Coal Creek School closed in 1948 children were transported
to the Meeker School over gravel roads by their family or neighbors. The
children would ride in open pickup trucks, with other children collected
along the way. Later a paid bus driver drove a panel truck which made
the trip to school a lot warmer and drier. Today a full-size school bus
picks up students only along paved roads. If a student lives on a gravel
road, parents must bring them to meet the school bus.
Flat Iron School Circa 1933
Heaton School
Larson School 1944 Jim, Lee and Barbara Smith ~ School was built in 1888
Golda Shull Baum (back rt) daughter to the builder of the Morrisania School, now Morrisania Community House. He also built a number of fine homes on the mesa, including his own.
Keeping this structure repaired is a testament to the people of Morrisania who value this asset. Thanks especially to Chris and Amy Beasley.
Peach Valley School built in 1896 (above image captured by Ashley Doty)
Peach Valley School 1921
Rock School on Piceance Creek
Circa 1929 - The lower Garfield Creek School house known as the Valley Veiw School. The land for the school was donated by George Yule.
The Wallace Creek School, a picture taken at a May Day celebration put on by the pupils. The building at the extreme right is the first school house, used as a barn for the many horses ridden by the children in the district
If you have questions, contributions, or problems with this site, email:
Coordinator - Rebecca Maloney
State Coordinator: Rebecca Maloney
Asst. State Coordinators: Betty Baker - M.D. Monk
If you have questions or problems with this site, email the County Coordinator. Please to not ask for specfic research on your family. I am unable to do your personal research.
