Do You Know This Building?
Answers: Located 26 miles south of Pagosa Springs along US Highway 84, only four miles from the New Mexico state line, is a cluster of buildings whose smooth exterior finish and deep-set windows are reminiscent of the Hispano adobe construction commonly found in southern Colorado. This one-room schoolhouse and its privy are built of poured concrete. A short open bell tower sits atop the steeply pitched hipped roof of the school; its promised bell never received. Rural schoolhouses constructed of concrete are rare in Colorado despite the fact that poured forms of concrete were gaining popularity and professional acceptance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is the only identified rural schoolhouse of poured concrete construction in the state. 
Constructed in 1922 for Archuleta County School District #2, it replaced a smaller 1901 building on the same site that was razed earlier that year. The impetus for a new building can be found in school records that indicate 42 students were enrolled in 1921. The builder camped on the grounds as he worked on the construction, mixing the concrete for the school and the outhouse by hand. His wife was the first teacher for the new building. Prior to the construction of the teacherage in 1947, teachers usually boarded with a local rancher. |
