Do You Know This Building?
Answers: 1. a) northeast of Carbondale This simple, elongated building is located in Missouri Heights, an approximately 24-square mile area of high rolling plateau four miles northeast of Carbondale. In the 1880s after the Utes were removed, the region opened to Anglo-American settlement. Homesteaders, a number of them from Missouri, arrived to establish large ranches and farms. The children of these farmers and ranchers attended school at one of four locations. (Rural schools were typically built at intervals of approximately two to three miles.) By the mid-1910s it was clear that the core area of Missouri Heights was in need of a centrally located school building. A rancher donated the land, and after the harvest of 1917, the community started construction on a new schoolhouse. Residents donated labor and materials for the project. Because the floor of a nearby school disturbingly bounced with the weight and motion of Saturday night dancers, the floor of the new schoolhouse was reinforced with cross-beams consisting of three massive logs harvested from nearby Basalt Mountain. Upon its completion, the Missouri Heights School (District 48) became the newest of approximately 55 public education buildings in Garfield County. In addition to the schoolhouse, a teacherage, coal shed, and two outhouses were constructed. Student enrollment varied from seven to 30 students each year, and grades one through eight were all taught in one room. The building also served as a community center for the residents. Meetings, graduation ceremonies, holiday programs, church services, and dances were held at the school.  By the late 1940s, the nation emerged from the previously troubled decades with renewed interest in educational reform, specifically consolidation. Post-war improvements of roads made travel to consolidated schools more convenient for rural students. The result was the passage of the School District Reorganization Act of 1949. Missouri Heights School was forced to close in 1956 and its students bussed to Carbondale. In 1963, the Missouri Heights Community League, a non-profit group of area ranchers and residents acquired the building with plans to reopen the schoolhouse for community events. A grant from the State Historical Fund helped with costly repairs, and once again the building is open for community use. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, this collection of simple wood frame buildings survives as a rare reminder of rural school education. |
