Lone Star Schools History


The Lone Star schools about 1924. Elementary school at left and the high school at right
Contributed by the Deering Family and the Yuma Museum

The first school in the far northeastern corner of Washington County began about 1895 as a rural grade school in district 30. A three-room school building was built and later moved to its present location

As the community had been steadily growing, residents began to feel the need for centralized high school. In 1920, two years of high school education was added and the school district reorganized as district 28. Beginning in September of that year the first two years of high school were taught in the Olhausen family's house. The principal of this new high school was Ruth Thaxton who suggested it be named Lone Star after her home state of Texas.

In 1922 Lone Star and surrounding districts voted to consolidate and offer a four year high school education in a new high school building which was completed in 1923.

In the ensuing years the Lone Star district continued to expand through consolidations until it included the Faith, Hope, Charity, Burdett, Prairie Vale, Hillcrest, East 28, West 28, Richmond, Liberty Hill and White districts.

In 1960, a new larger building capable of housing all twelve grades was built. It wasn't finished until rather late and was dedicated on Sunday, November 13, 1960. As a result, the class of 1960 was the last class to graduate in the old, 1923, high school building.

Original Lone Star Grade School. Custodian's home on the left.
In the foreground the new building of 1960 under construction.

After only 15 months, the new building burned down due to a boiler malfunction or explosion on January 10, 1962. The class of 1961 was the only class to have graduated from the new building and they had not even attended classes in the building for a full year.

The community voted to rebuild the school on the same foundation with existing floor plan, however, they did make a few changes and improvements.

Lone Star continues to occupy this very building today, with a number of additions and more improvements having been made in the years since 1962. This is the building as it stands today and still functions as the center of the Lone Star community.

Page content in part by: Gabrielle Blom, Lillian Guinn, and Juan Hermosillo taken from http://lonestarschool.net

Lone Star Schools Historic Class Photos

  • High School Class of 1924 photo

    • Lone Star to Graduate Centennial Class Fourteen seniors will graduate in 2024, surpassing the 1924 Lone Star class by two.

    The class of 1924 was the largest to graduate from Lone Star for many years until 1930 and 1941 when there were also 12 grads.

    The 100th Lone Star High School senior class of 2024 will march to Pomp and Circumstance this coming Sunday. May 5 at 1:00 PM. Because a high school for that area was still in the planning stages during the last half of the 1910’s, incoming freshman needed to wait at least one year before starting high school. Several were 20 years old when they graduated. This delay caused four pairs of siblings to be in the first Lone Star class, They were--Grace and Artie Deering, Ruth and Merle Whittenburg, Bruce and Loel Mollison, and Hazel and Helen Oldhausen.

    Other class members were Glen Stenson, Claude Sweger, Francis Keenan and Nadine Wheeler.

    Several classes in the Lone Star curricula were taught by Mr. D.A. Sawyer, a graduate of Iowa State University. His ability to teach classic literature and Spanish was deeply imprinted on these young country bred students. He returned to attend their 50th class reunion in 1974.

    The Lone Star Longhorn mascot came about because another teacher had attended the University of Texas in Austin.

    After Claude Sweger graduated from the University of Denver, he built the modern furniture store that now hosts the Orphanage at the corner of 3rd and Main in Yuma. Claude had become deaf while a student at DU after contracting a serious strep throat. He became a very good lip reader and was an important part of the Yuma community.

    Merle Whittenberg and Bruce Mollison founded a coffee company in Denver that delivered high quality coffee to companies, business offices restaurants, homes, and factories throughout Denver until the 1960's.
    Glenn Stenson became Phillips County's longtime County Treasurer. He also was one of the three original trustees of the Higgenbotham Trust.
    Grace and Artie Deering and Ruth Whittenburg were the only ones who remained in the immediate area. Grace married schoolteacher Vernon Trunde who, later, became Yuma's City Clerk and Yuma Town Manager. Grace also taught school.
    Grace was a good athlete and fleet of foot but Lone Star didn't have a girls' basketball team.
    There was also no boy’s 1920-1921 basketball season, because the first classes were held in a home near the school that lacked a basketball court.
    The first basketball season tipped off in the fall of 1921.
    Games and practices were outdoors because the Lone Star gymnasium was still under construction. Mr. Sawyer was their coach.
    Because of no lights, all games and practices were held during daylight hours.

    Unique basketballs were used for outdoor use--the seams were sewed to the outside instead of being folded to the inside like the balls of today. This reversed design let the players grip the ball better--especially when snow or mud made the ball slippery. Time was kept on a stopwatch instead of a game clock. The ball was jumped at center court after every basket.

    Because cold air caused the basketballs to shrink, several supplemental inflations with a tire pump were needed during games and practices.

    Visiting teams who already had cozy gyms weren’t all that enthusiastic about Lone Star's hospitality.

    During Lone Star’s second season, the entire Lone Star team was named All Conference, having won over small school teams of similar size like Wages and Otis as well as larger schools like Yuma and Akron.

    John Wheeler, a wisecracking sophomore center and younger brother of Nadine, was known for quoting amusing limericks. He was the tallest player on the team and was also Lone Star’s best player.

    The 1924 graduates would be proud to know that the 2024 grads have continued the Longhorn tradition.

    THIS HISTORY PROVIDED BY ROLLIE DEERING

  • Grade School Class photo 1927 - 3rd & 4th Grade
  • Grade School Class photo 1930 - 3rd & 4th Grade

    • Lone Star School District 101 Present

    Currently Lone Star School District No. 101 covers a large area of northeastern Washington County. The district comprises three schools: Elementary, Middle, and undivided High. The physical address of all three is 44940 County Rd 54, Otis, CO 80743-9621. 

    

Statistics for the 2013-2014 school year follow:

    
Lone Star Elementary School
  Students: 65 
  Teachers: 8
  Student-Teacher Ratio: 7.7 to 1 
  Lowest Grade in School: Kindergarten
  Highest Grade in School: 5 

Lone Star Middle School
  Students: 22 
  Teachers: 3
  Student-Teacher Ratio: 6.5 to 1 
  Lowest Grade in School: 6
  Highest Grade in School: 8 

Lone Star Undivided High School
  Students: 34 
  Teachers: 7
  Student-Teacher Ratio: 4.6 to 1 
  Lowest Grade in School: 9
  Highest Grade in School: 12


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