USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume I > Part 67
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In 1870-71 a two-room adobe schoolhouse, the first public school building in southern Colorado, was erected in Pueblo, on the corner of Eleventh and Court streets, where now stands the beautiful Centennial high school.
The first teachers in this building were Mesdames S. J. Patterson and E. S. Owen. They were followed by Miss Hillock and Miss Lou Stout.
The "adobe" was soon outgrown and it was necessary to rent rooms in dif- ferent parts of the town to accommodate the larger pupils.
In 1874 the bonds for a new building were sold, but after the building was started the district treasurer absconded with the funds. For over a year no pub- lic school was held, but in January, 1876, the new building was opened and it was appropriately named the Centennial School.
In 1890 this was remodeled and enlarged and made into one of the finest and best equipped school buildings in the United States. At that time the old "adobe" was torn down. In 1908 another wing was added to the building.
District No. I contained in 1908, besides the Centennial high school, the Hinsdale, Fountain, Somerlid, Bradford, Riverside, Irving and Centennial An- nex buildings. .
The first superintendent of District No. I was Prof. Isaac C. Dennett, who had charge of the schools from 1876 to 1879, when he was called to a chair in the state university. He was succeeded by J. S. McClung, of Delavan, Illinois, who for twenty-six years was at the head of the schools of this district.
Superintendent McClung was followed in September, 1905, by Prof. George W. Loomis, who was formerly the superintendent of the Central State Normal School of Michigan.
In 1873 a new school district, which was called No. 20, was organized in Pueblo on the south side of the Arkansas River.
Ex-Governor Adams was one of the chief factors in its organization, having driven out to the ranch of Philip Zoeller, Pueblo's first county superintendent, and presented a petition to him to organize the territory lying south of the Arkan- sas River into a new school district. Superintendent Zoeller did so, but said
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that he did not see the use of it, as there were no children to attend school. The members of the first school board in the new district were Dr. Shelburn, J. A. Barclay and Klass Wildeboor.
A one-room brick building was erected on the brow of the hill, and the school was opened in the fall of 1873.
The little brick building was soon followed by a four-room building, the Corona, and the Central, Bessemer, Wildeboor, Danforth, Carlile, Columbian, Edison, Central Annex, Minnequa, Lake View, Lincoln and the Pueblo high school, the latter said to be one of the finest school buildings in the United States, were built.
Mrs. Emma Kincaid was the first principal of the "Corona," and she was succeeded in March, 1882, by C. W. Parkinson.
In February, 1883, the enrollment in this district was 460. January 1, 1916, there were enrolled in the high schools of the county, the Centennial, Manual Training department, the Pueblo and the Junior high school, 1,037 pupils. The total enrollment in the county was 9,943. There were ninety-one schools, with 375 rooms, in the county ; value, $1,395, 113.
Rio Blanco County .- Before the incorporation of Meeker, in 1885, the settlers had started their schools. Before 1890 it had expended $10,000 on a two-story brick school. The enrollment in the six schoolhouses of the county in that year was 153. On January 1, 1916, there were sixty pupils enrolled in the Meeker high school, and the total enrollment in the twenty-two county public schools was 339. The valuation of these schools was $34,756.
Rio Grande County .- Daniel E. Newcomb, the first county superintendent, was appointed March 21, 1874. At Del Norte the first school district was or- ganized in 1874, the first directors being John Poole, J. Hughes and J. C. Howard. A fine schoolhouse was erected from the proceeds of a $10,000 bond issue. The public school enrollment in 1890 in the county was 817, in seventeen schoolhouses. On January 1, 1916, there were 200 pupils enrolled in the Del Norte and Monte Vista schools. The total public school enrollment in the county was 1,823. There were twenty-nine school buildings, with fifty-one rooms, and valuation, $126,900.
Routt County .- The first school established in Routt County was organized March 5, 1881, on Snake River, near the present town of Slater. The first board of directors was A. McCargar, president; A. L. Ely, treasurer; and F. N. Robi- doux, secretary. Ten pupils were enrolled.
The schoolhouse was a small log cabin, and grouped around it were three or four empty cabins. Some of the mothers brought the children to school on Mon- day mornings, stayed in these cabins all the week, and took them back to the ranch Friday evenings.
District No. 2 was organized at Ladore September 12, 1881. No report was received from this district after 1882, so the district number was given to Hayden, organized in 1882 with an enrollment of twenty-eight. The first term was held in a cabin on the present site of Hayden. School was held in different cabins up and down the river until 1889, when a permanent schoolhouse was built. It had only one room, but was the best school building in the county at that time.
In the days of the log cabin schoolhouse in the Hayden district there came a heavy rain one spring that lasted three days. A settler happened to go to the
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schoolhouse one morning and found all the pupils sitting on the floor under a table studying, while the rain was pouring through the dirt roof.
The original District No. 3 was organized in November, 1881. It included almost a third of the county and was situated in the southeastern part.
August 25, 1883, District No. 4 was established. The first school was taught by Mr. Bennett in the home of J. H. Crawford at Steamboat Springs. A little later the school was held in a cabin built for that purpose. In 1890 a new school building was completed.
District No. 6 was organized in Egeria Park December 10, 1883, and District No. 5 at Craig, now part of Moffatt County, July 6, 1885.
The first schoolhouse at Craig was built on one corner of the McLachlin ranch. The first term there were fifteen pupils.
Among the graded schools of Routt County, Yampa was the last to be or- ganized. The first schoolhouse was built across from the old Watson place and near the cemetery. This old building is still standing.
After 1890 the four schools in Hayden, Craig, Steamboat Springs and Yampa were established and in a flourishing condition, but only a part of them had been graded. The grading in these districts was not brought to anything like a perfect state until 1900, and full high school courses were not added to all the town schools until 1907.
The census record of 1894 gives 674 pupils in the schools of Routt County. In 1898 there were 835, showing but a small increase. In 1908 there were 1,579 pupils enrolled.
On January 1, 1916, there were in the present limits of Routt County fifty- eight schoolhouses, with ninety-seven rooms; valuation, $107,030. In the old limits there were eighty-eight schoolhouses. There were 108 high school pupils enrolled in what is now Routt County, and the total public school enrollment was 1,980.
Saguache County .- In 1869 the first superintendent of Saguache County re- ported thirty children, "English and Spanish," enrolled in the schools of the county. In 1890 the enrollment was 651, and the eighteen schoolhouses had been erected at a cost of $13,100, the first high school having been established in that year in Saguache. On January 1, 1916, there were ninety-nine pupils enrolled in the high school; total county public school enrollment, 1,294. The thirty-six schoolhouses, with sixty-five rooms, were valued at $74,000.
San Juan County .- The first county superintendent of schools, elected in 1876, the year the county was created, was William Munroe. By 1890 Silverton had spent $10,000 on a fine schoolhouse, and the total enrollment in this, the only schoolhouse in the county at that time, was 109. By 1894 the valuation had gone from this first expenditure of $10,000 to a total of $210,944. On Jan- uary 1, 1916, with much territory taken to form other counties the high school enrollment was ninety-six, and the total county enrollment was 341. There were in the present comparatively small limits five schoolhouses, with sixteen rooms ; valuation, $66,000.
San Miguel County .- The school system of what now comprises San Miguel County started with the early days of Columbia, later called Telluride. When the town was incorporated in 1878 the first school was already in existence. By 1890 a substantial structure was erected. The first county superintendent, elected
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in 1883, was George S. Andrews. In 1890 the enrollment of the county in its three schoolhouses was 109. On January 1, 1916, there were ninety-six enrolled in the Telluride high school, and the total public school enrollment in its twenty- one schools was 1,055. The valuation of these schools was $23,100.
Sedgwick County .- The first school district was organized in Sedgwick County May 2, 1887, according to law. The second school district was organized May 6, 1887. In 1908 there were twenty-four organized school districts.
Miss Amelia Guy was the first public school teacher in Julesburg, having been appointed in 1885 to conduct the school in a frame building close to the railroad tracks. By 1890 there were 265 pupils enrolled in the county, in twenty- three schoolhouses.
On January 1, 1916, there were thirty-two schools, with forty-three rooms, in the county ; valuation, $43,500. There were 113 pupils enrolled in the high school, and total enrollment in the county was 902.
Summit County .- The first record of schools in Summit County was made in 1876. The county was then much larger than now and was divided into two school districts and the first school was held in Montezuma for a term of forty- six days.
The first school census was taken in 1878, and there were then in the county sixty-five persons of school age.
In 1880 two more districts were made from the original two, and Kokomo had a three months' school that summer, the school population for that district being sixty-nine. The other district was Red Cliff, which now belongs to Eagle County.
On January 1, 1916, there were eleven schools, with seventeen rooms, in the county ; valuation, $35,245. The high school enrollment at Breckenridge was thirty-three; total in the county, 335.
Teller County .- The early history of El Paso County covers Teller County. In 1892 the first public school was started in what is commonly called Old Town, in Cripple Creek, with W. E. Pruett as teacher. In 1897 the first class, num- bering two, graduated from the Cripple Creek high school, which was established late in 1896.
On January 1, 1916, there were enrolled in the high schools of Cripple Creek and Victor 408 pupils ; total enrollment in county, 2,568. There were thirty-five schools, with 122 rooms, and a total valuation of $223,348.
Washington County .- Akron was the site of the first schoolhouse, in what is now Washington County, but which in 1886 was still part of Weld County. The first public school teacher was Miss Hettie Irwin, although Mrs. S. Cordeal had conducted a private school prior to this time. Before 1890 a $12,000 school- house was erected. In that year there were nineteen schoolhouses in the county, which had cost $25,000 to build and equip. The total enrollment was 601. On January 1, 1916, there were ninety-nine school buildings in the county, with 178 rooms ; valuation, $63,258; the high school enrollment was eighty-eight ; total en- rollment, 2,060.
Weld County .- Seven counties now occupy the area which was formerly that of Weld County. In 1868 D. J. Fulton, superintendent, reported sixty-one per- sons of school age in the entire county. With the formation of Union Colony the work of establishing, a school system began. A class of over fifty forming the
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first private school was opened in 1870, with a Mrs. Guinney as teacher. In 1871 E. W. Gurley organized the school into a semblance of grades, with two teach- ers to aid him. But the first school directors, elected in May, 1871, J. L. Brush, W. Teller, and W. H. Post, now started in to establish a modern public school system, and appointed J. C. Shattuck, later state superintendent of public in- struction, to the position of principal. By 1873 the new building, for which an expenditure of $30,000 had been authorized, was completed and occupied. In 1880 the first high school class was graduated. By 1890 seven other school build- ings had been erected. On January 1, 1916, there were 240 schoolhouses, with 415 rooms, in the county, with its various segregations all distinctively enumerated. Within its present limits the high school enrollment is 697; total enrollment, 12,813. The valuation of school property is $863,737. There are high schools in practically all the leading towns of the county, the principal ones being at Greeley, Johnstown, Fort Lupton, Erie, Ault, Eaton, Milliken, La Salle, Nunn, Gill, Grover, Keota, Gilcrest, Kersey, Buckingham, and Mead.
Yuma County .- Miss Mary Elmore taught the first school at Yuma, in 1886. By 1890 there had been built in Yuma, Wray, and in the other towns of the county twenty-two schoolhouses, with an enrollment of 573. In the county high school at Wray the enrollment January 1, 1916, was 107, with 2,816 enrolled in the 109 schoolhouses of the county. The valuation of school property on Janu- ary I, 1916, was $54,899.
CHAPTER XXXI
EDUCATION IN COLORADO (Continued)
HIGHER EDUCATION-UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO'S DEVELOPMENT-DENVER UNIVER- SITY-THE SCHOOL OF MINES-THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE-THE TEACHERS' COLLEGE-STATE NORMAL SCHOOL-COLORADO COLLEGE-WOMAN'S COLLEGE- THE CLAYTON SCHOOL.
THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
Higher education in Colorado was in the minds of the pioneers who first came into this part of the territory of Kansas as early as 1860-when even the few district schools had a difficult time finding pupils to fill the few log huts. Dr. J. Raymond Brackett, of the University of Colorado, in the brief history of the University of Colorado prepared for this volume, says that before Boulder's first schoolhouse was a year old Robert Culver began the work for a university to be located at this little town of some sixty log cabins and one or two frame houses. Charles F. Holly introduced into the House, October 26, 1861, a bill to establish the university at Boulder, and this was ratified by Governor Gilpin November 7th.
During the ten years from 1861 to 1871 this hamlet hungering for a university hardly kept itself together. Denver had its first railway communication June 22, 1870, by way of Cheyenne; in 1871 the Denver & Rio Grande reached Col- orado Springs, a city consisting of one low, flat, mud-roofed log cabin. The "es- tablishment" of the university by the first Territorial Legislature was merely on paper. There were only about twenty-five thousand people in the Territory, mostly men ; children and schools were few. It took sixteen years of hard work to bring the actual. Nearly every man of standing in Boulder contributed funds or visited the capital at each session to keep the legislation alive; among these must be mentioned Capt. David H. Nichols, speaker of the House, and James P. Maxwell, who was president of the Senate when Colorado became a state.
The tract constituting the campus was presented to the university in 1872. On January 8th of this year George A. Andrews deeded 21.98 acres; on the same day Marinus G. Smith deeded 25.49 acres; January 10th Anthony Arnett deeded 3.83 acres. The main building and Hale Science building are on the Smith tract; Woodbury and the athletic field are on the Andrews tract.
In 1872 an appropriation for the erection of the first building failed to pass. For three years longer the jack-rabbits on the campus were undisturbed by ham- mer or trowel. But September 20, 1875, the corner-stone was laid; $15,000 had
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been appropriated in 1874 and another $15,000 given by the citizens of Boulder. The raising of $15,000 by this village was a matter of great sacrifice, but this was what actually fixed the university at Boulder. Marinus G. Smith, known as "University Smith," headed the list with $1,000, the largest sum. So the main building rose as an index of the ideals and a partial measure of the self-depriva- tion of those pioneers who sixteen years before had seen on this spot not a uni- versity campus, but hundreds of elk grazing in the evening sun.
The proposed university was in charge of a board of fifteen trustees. They organized at Boulder, January 2, 1870. The $15,000 raised by the people of Boulder and the $15,000 appropriated by the Legislature of 1874 was expended by them and also about $6,500 of the $15,000 granted by the Territory in 1875.
In 1877 the population of the state scarcely reached one hundred and thirty- five-thousand. The common-school system was barely organized. Only three high schools existed; but one high school class had ever graduated in Colorado and that was at Boulder in 1876; Denver had eighty-one high school students at that time and the next year graduated a class of seven. But the regents voted to open the university in the two departments required by law-the normal and preparatory. This decision was reached at a meeting at Boulder in conference with Governor Routt and Prof. Joseph Addison Sewall, March 27 and 28, 1877.
The regents had the following resources with which to establish the uni- versity :
I. A campus of fifty-one acres presented by three citizens of Boulder.
2. The main building erected but not ready for occupancy; $15,000 had been put in by citizens of Boulder, $15,000 from the appropriation of 1874, and about $6,500 came from the territorial appropriation of $15,000 of 1875.
3. Eight thousand five hundred dollars of the territorial appropriation of 1874-the balance unexpended by the trustees; the warrants for the sum were expected in March and July, 1877; $6,920 dollars was realized.
4. The income of a permanent levy of one-fifth of a mill on the assessed valuation of the state.
5. The income of a permanent land fund to be created by the disposal of seventy-two sections of land granted by Congress in the Enabling act.
6. A special appropriation of $15,000 made by the General Assembly of 1876, to complete the building and open the school.
The regents, at the meeting of March 28, 1877, unanimously elected to the presidency, Joseph Addison Sewall, a native of Maine, educated at Harvard Uni- versity. He had been known to Governor Routt as professor of natural science in the State Normal University of Illinois. The high school at Boulder was dis- continued; its students and principal, Justin E. Dow, were transferred to the empty building on the hill.
The university opened Wednesday, September 5, 1877, with two teachers and forty-four students.
In the first year, 1877-78, seventy-five students matriculated. Some remained but a short time. Sixty-six names were published-fourteen normal and fifty- two preparatory. Of these, thirty-nine were men and only twenty-seven were women. Seven had been born in Colorado. Sixteen states and countries were given as places of birth.
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HALE SCIENCE BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER
MACKY AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER
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The college was opened the second year under the titles, "University Classical Course" and "University Scientific Course." These courses of four years each were modeled on the rigid college curricula of the time. The chief branches were Latin, Greek, and mathematics.
The classical, which had the eight entering freshmen in September, 1878, re- quired two full years of Greek, three years of Latin, and practically two years of mathematics.
In 1882 the college year was divided into two semesters. The three term divi- sion continued in the preparatory six years longer. In this year a third college course was added, Latin and Scientific, leading to a B. S.
In 1885 two new degrees were offered: Bachelor of Philosophy for those completing the Latin-Scientific, and Bachelor of Letters for those entering with- out foreign languages.
The increase in the faculty was slow: In 1879 Paul Hanus in mathematics, was succeeded by W. W. Campbell in 1886; Isaac C. Dennett succeeded J. E. Dow in Latin and Greek; in 1884 James W. Bell, history and economics; J. Ray- mond Brackett, English literature and Greek; in 1886 William J. Waggener, physical sciences. The first year there were three instructors and one assistant ; in the tenth, seven professors.
The Department of Medicine was announced in 1883 on the basis of a four- year course; President Sewall was dean, associated with William R. Whitehead, M. D. (University of Paris). There was a class of two. In 1884-85 the fac- ulty was increased by two physicians from Boulder and three from Denver; the course was reduced to three years. Two degrees were granted in 1885. From 1888 to 1892 twelve licenses were granted.
The Preparatory School was naturally the chief department in importance at the opening and the most numerously attended throughout the first ten years.
In 1877 there was one course of three years based on two years of Greek, three years of Latin, mathematics, French and German ; in 1880 a scientific course was added; in 1882, a third, Latin-Scientific; in 1884 the course was lengthened to four years. .
In 1885 there were three four-year courses-Scientific, Latin-Scientific, and Classica). Sixty completed a preparatory course in the first ten years. Admis- sion was by rigid written examinations, and the conditions for promotion were severe. A list of accredited schools was first published in 1884: Denver, Pueblo, Leadville, Gunnison, Trinidad, Georgetown, and Golden.
In 1882 the first honorary degree was conferred, Doctor of Divinity, upon W. E. Hamilton, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Central. In 1887 the first degree for graduate work in residence, Master of Arts, was conferred upon Silas Edward Persons.
December 9, 1891, James Hutchins Baker, a native of Maine, educated at Bates College and for seventeen years principal of the East Denver high school, was elected president, and his administration began January 1, 1892. Until September he was employed with executive work only; then, in addition, he filled the chair of psychology and ethics, teaching psychology or ethics until 1897-98.
The number in attendance in 1892 was fifty-five; in 1908 it had increased to 550; and in 1911 to 697 ; in 1911 there were, deducting professional and vocational students, 472 taking a four-year course, of college subjects. In 1892, four re-
ENGINEERING BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER
3.
LAW BUILDING, ON THE RIGHT, AND LIBRARY, ON THE LEFT, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER
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ceived a college degree; in 1913 the B. A. was conferred upon 106-the College of Commerce furnishing six, the College of Education thirty-five.
The following professorships were established: 1893, philosophy (with peda- gogy) ; 1894, psychology (with education) ; 1897, romance languages ; 1902, geol- ogy, history; 1903, education; 1906, English; 1907, systematic zoology, music ; 1909, natural history; 1910, second professorship in Latin.
The professorships increased from ten in 1892 to twenty-one professorships and four assistant professorships in 1913; the instructors increased from four in 1892 to thirty-two in 1913.
The College of Commerce was opened in 1906, with John B. Phillips sec- retary. It offers four courses of four years each; I, banking; 2, manufactures ; 3, journalism ; 4, trade, transportation and consular service.
The College of Education was opened in 1907, with Frank E. Thompson secretary ; a four-year course comprising ten courses in subjects the candidate intends to teach.
The College of Engineering was opened in 1893 as the School of Applied Science, Henry Fulton, acting dean; dean, 1894. He was followed in office by George H. Rowe, 1902; Henry B. Dates, 1903; Milo S. Ketchum, 1905. At the opening, courses were announced in civil and in electrical engineering ; mechanical engineering was added in 1901 ; chemical engineering in 1905. In 1906 the name College of Engineering was used. In 1913 the attendance was 293; fifty-one degrees were conferred.
The School of Medicine was reorganized in 1892-93, James K. Eskredge, dean. He was folowed in office by Clayton Parkhill, 1895; Luman M. Giffin, 1897; and W. P. Harlow, 1907. From September, 1892, to September, 1897, the first year was conducted in Boulder, the others in Denver. In 1895 the course was lengthened to four years. January, 1911, the school was thoroughly reorgan- ized, taking over the Denver and Gross Medical colleges; the third and fourth year students removed to Denver. The attendance in 1913 in all classes was 195; fifty-one degrees were conferred.
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