The first building used as a school in 1895 was a log cabin. Right after the turn of the century, a small frame building was erected for the school. In 1912 it was moved 3 miles down the road. In 1917 it was returned to the gulch west of its original location. After the reorganization of the school district in 1960, the school reached its present location in 1961 as a teacherage at Virginia Dale.
LC - SCHOOLS - Mountain - General
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Also known as the Deadman School, it was located 8.5 miles northwest of Masonville. It was built around 1919. The last year it was operated there was only one pupil.
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This school was located in Buffum Canyon about 1 mile west of Masonville. In 1886, George W. Buffum conducted school classes in his home. He secured the teacher for his own children and other children in the area were allowed to attend. The school was built probably in 1887 and used through the mid 90's. A photo of the school and class are included in the Coloradoan article.
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District #53 included the Eggers School and Elkhorn School. The Eggers School apparently had two locations as a school. In one record it says it was located atop the hill on the way to Red Feather. In another story, it was located near the Pingree Park bridge in Poudre Canyon. In 1960, it was replaced by the new Poudre Canyon School.
A few years ago when it was decided to demolish the old schoolhouse, members of the Poudre Canyon Chapel moved the school to its present location next to the chapel. It is now the Poudre Canyon Library. In fact, it is the only public library between Walden and Fort Collins. The basic area it serves is the upper Poudre Valley, from Rustic on up. It is 35 miles west of Ted's Place. The library has several thousand books that are a great benefit to the community. The success of the library comes from the community also. It is a small community and everyone works to make it a success.
LC - SCHOOLS - Mountain - Eggers
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The Elkhorn School was one of two schools in District #53 and was a part of the community for sixty-six years. District #53 was organized on September 13, 1887 in northwest Larimer County. School was first held in cabins, homes and the Town Hall in the mining town of Manhattan. On a creek of the same name, a branch of the Elkhorn School was held from 1893 to 1904.
In 1903, a special meeting was held for the purpose of choosing a building site. They also decided the size and kind of material for the school house. A local sawmill was used and new desks were ordered.
Early teachers were Mrs. Mildred Goldsborough, Mrs. George Williams, Mrs. George Weaver, Jessie Harrington and Kathryn McNey. Some of the pupils at Manhattan were the children of W. S. Miller and the Dayton Robinson's. Later teachers were Mrs. Tamlin, Mrs. Pearl Bartells, Mrs. Ralph Mason, Mrs. Joan Smith and Mrs. Frances Goodell.
In 1905, the school was moved about a mile east of the Goodell home at the turn-off to Pingree Hill. Later it was moved again to the Elkhorn.
In 1933 Katherine McNey was the teacher with four pupils. They were Robert Saxon, Betty Loeter, Garner Robinson and Louis Gueswell. During the summer of 1947, the school was moved to the Ralph Mason ranch where it remains today. The Masons had leased the property to the school district for $1.00 a year. In 1970 the school was closed and the 20-by-40 foot one room school building was not used any more.
In 1974 the Poudre R-1 School District voted to end its lease agreement with the Masons of Elkhorn Valley for the one acre site of the Elkhorn School. An Elkhorn Valley couple, Mr. And Mrs. Russell Robinson attended the Board meeting and voiced objections. They felt the school might be needed again since more families with children were moving into the area. They said taking the children to Red Feather or the Poudre can be hazardous in the winter.
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At the most remote school of Poudre R-1 District, 110 miles from Fort Collins, the pupils attended classes in a log school that was first used in 1940 as a classroom.
In 1962 when school began in the fall, the students proudly initiated the $28,000 light green modern building. That building was destroyed by fire on January 24, 1975. The teacher, Mrs. Phyllis Hardie, was sleeping in the nearby teacherage which had formerly been the log school. She awoke about 12:30am to see the school building going up in flames. Summoning nearby ranchers, she alerted them in time to fight the fire and save the log teacherage. The school building and its contents were almost a total loss. A new Gleneyre Elementary School was built in the summer of 1975 near Jelm, WY to replace the one burned.
This is the second time that the Gleneyre school burned. The first time was when it was located on the west side of the river at Gleneyre resort. In 1915 it was replaced with another building on the Schroeder ranch.
Although Gleneyre School District #42 was organized in March, 1892, there were several winters when classes were held in the homes of ranchers. Bob Hohnholtz, who has spent his entire life on the ranch he owns, says "There used to be a homestead cabin up here on the Ralph Tatham place where I went to school one year; I went one winter in a cabin here at home and my sister taught me." The winter of 1952, the Buck Elliott's had school in their home and the teacher, Miss Pollock, lived with them.
Since the erection of the new building in 1962, the enrollment has been around 12 pupils each year. Mrs. Joan Hammond of 200 Pitkin Street was Gleneyre's teacher from 1970 to 1974 commented on her enjoyable years in the Laramie Valley. "In addition to teaching, I was track coach, janitor, dispenser of first-aid, carpenter and plumber; any trouble I couldn't handle was taken care of by people in the community, who were proud of their school."
In 1984, the school was mentioned in the Coloradoan as having just 3 students and 1 teacher.
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Livermore, located on the Red Feather Lakes road two miles west of the Forks Hotel, dates back to the 1860s. In 1871 when there were only 25 voters, the Livermore School District was formed. Classes did not begin until 1874. The first classes were held in the dugout of the town's founders about one-fourth mile south of town. The dugout had a sod roof, dirt floor and single window. Records indicate that during these early years school was only taught in the summer.
In June, 1876, a second school was built about eight miles west of Livermore. Known as the Gorden School, it later became part of the Adams School District. It was a comfortable, log schoolhouse with one long seat and a correspondingly long desk to accommodate all of the students.
A new Livermore School was constructed in 1884. In 1889, it was felt necessary to enlarge the school building with a 20X25 foot addition.
In 1952, it was felt that the old Livermore School building no longer served the best interests of the children. A bond issue was voted in and a new two-story brick building was ready for use in the fall of 1953. In 1961, Livermore School became part of the Poudre R1 School District. In 1980, construction was begun on an addition to the school because of a growing school population.
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Although many students went to this school since the first classes in 1908, little remains of the area built up by the St. Clair family about 1890. Log Cabin once had a large hotel, store, livery barn, post office and several homes in addition to the school.
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This school was formerly with District #25 and was located on the Lone Pine Creek east of Black Mountain. It was also known of the Yockey School. The date it was built is unknown, although classes were held there until the Westlake School was built in 1895.
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In 1923 this frame structure was built over a full cement basement and then used as a school until 1952. It continued as a community meeting place until it was sold and used as a private home. This was the third and last school in the Masonville area. The other two were the Buffum School and an abandoned cabin on the Thompson place.
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The Owl Canyon School will not be open for next fall's school term. This decision was made by the Livermore district school board. The school is one of several rural schools in the county which will not be operated next year because of scarcity of pupils and shortage of teachers.
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This school was dedicated in January of 1960 as a replacement for the Eggers School.
LC - SCHOOLS - Mountain - Poudre Canyon School
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This schoolhouse was located near Red feather Lakes, near Pine Creek. It apparently was operating as early as 1896 when Ruth Gibbens attended the school. The teacher was Alice Temick and at times she had as high as 30 students. There were 8 grades. An article in the Triangle Review indicates it was still operating as a one room school in 1978. In 1982 there was a log cabin school built in 1908 offered for sale.
LC - SCHOOLS - Mountain - Red Feather
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(formerly Diamond Peak - presently Cherokee Park) This was established as a school for two girls living on the Devil's Creek. Later the family moved down near the St. Cloud School. Classes were held there many years.
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Silver Dell School was one of the last of the small rural school districts to be organized in Larimer County. Its one-room frame schoolhouse just inside the south boundary of the county a few miles east of Highway 36, not far from Lyons. The school was built in 1919. By 1932, most of the children had moved away so the school was moved. By 1942 there were only 2 pupils and the school was closed.
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Two homesteaders built this school for their children in 1896. Though the building has grown, the original classroom remains. The location of the school is in the upper Rist Canyon. It is 27 miles from Fort Collins and 15 miles from Masonville. For the past century it has served as the community center for the surrounding population. In contrast to many rural schools, Stove Prairie never suffered from entire abandonment due to consolidation or lack of population. It has operated continuously for the past 100 years except for the year 1904. As the years have gone by and the community has grown, additions have been made to the school accordingly. It has evolved from a simple one room school into a more complicated "H" shaped structure as a result of additions. These adaptations reflect the evolving nature of the community, from a pure rural and agricultural community to a satellite suburb to the city of Fort Collins.
A centennial celebration was held for the school on September 28, 1996. Grades K - 6 are taught with 3 teachers and just under 50 students.
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Not much information was available on this school in the Rist Canyon area. Preceding and at the time of writing Ansel Watrous "History of Larimer County", Stratton Park was one of the mountain election precincts in the county.
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This school was built in 1874 and served the area for quite a while. The Adams School District #28, was a frame building built in the early 1900's about a half mile west of Mcvey Hill on the Red Feather Road. After being moved several times it's travels ended at the site of the Virginia Dale School in 1961 and was used as a teacherage. During the years it has been added to and the building seems in good repair.
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This was the second school built to serve this area, Lone Pine being the first, and was built in 1895. It was used for many years before the Red Feather School was built.
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This school was one of the most remote schools in Larimer County located at Black Mountain northwest of what is now Red Feather Lakes. It was part of School District #56 formed in 1894 from a section of School District #25. In 1895, another schoolhouse was built southeast of Red Feather and called Westlake School. In 1911, the county superintendent made her annual visit to each rural school. A photo from that visit remains.
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Preserving the history of Fort Collins, Colorado & the Cache la Poudre region
