Seven

READING, WRITING, AND ARITHMETIC

The famous state paper of 1787, forming the organization of the Northwest Territory, or the Ohio Territory, stated the thesis for all America: “Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” The following is from Richard E. Tope’s Objective History: Grand Junction, Colorado:

The school system of Grand Junction was the first governing organization to be formed. The civil government had to wait for a charter from the government, a county government by the authority of the legislature and an official interested in education did not need to wait because it was possible to begin school work by private subscription on a tuition basis.

The first election in Grand Junction was a school election held on June 1, 1882. This was before the town was incorporated and before school district families had come into the valley by stage coach, horseback, and immigrant wagons and wherever there are children in America there must be school advantages. So a committee was chosen to work out some plan for a school. This committee was composed of Dr. H. E. Stroud, the first physician in the new community, O. D. Russell and W. M. McKelvey. Mr. Russell came in company with William McGinley and J. Clayton Nichols, the first three settlers who rode horseback into the Grand Valley on September 8, 1881. That was the historic beginning.

The first school was held in the summer of 1882. The school committee raised the money by public subscription and selected Miss Nannie Blain, a young woman who had recently arrived with her parents and brothers by old fashioned camp wagon along the old Indian trails from Canon City by way of Gunnison and Ouray, as teacher.

Twenty pupils were enrolled in a school organized in a small picket cabin on the south side of Colorado Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets. The children of Grand Junction’s pioneers quickly outgrew the picket cabin and moved into a new one-room adobe-brick schoolhouse. Their teacher stands in the doorway. (Courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

During 1884, the primitive schoolhouse was replaced by a fine two-story brick structure, the Lowell School, built at a cost of $8,237.97. Kindergarten schoolchildren in 1903 play in one of the classrooms that doubled as a recreation room. A piano, a chalkboard, and a variety of photographs line the walls, along with paper cutouts of birds and butterflies made by the children. (Courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

Prof. Richard E. Tope described the first school: “J. S. Gordon had come with his family in the summer of 1882. He enrolled four children in the first school. Miss Blain married William Underhill and they established their home in Mesa County. Attorney Elam Underhill of this city is a son. Mrs. Underhill described her school as a hut, dirt floor, dirt roof, and furnishings just such simple necessities as could be hastily made by hand. She states that her pupils were a bright, promising, and well-behaved group. At the close of the term the pupils spoke their pieces, Judge Mobley and J. W. Bucklin, among the early citizens of the pioneer community, made appropriate school addresses. There were also two other tuition schools in 1883 and 1884 before the first tax money became available late in 1884.” Pictured in 1889, the public schoolteachers in Grand Junction were (in no particular order) Avis Clark, D. T. Stone, F. Stafford, Rose Allison, and Ella Joseph. (Courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

Early school buses (pictured above) brought children from rural homes into Grand Junction for their advanced classes. Mesa County was formally established on February 11, 1883, and school district No. 1 became a legal entity under the new county. In the fall of 1883, the new board of school directors (H. E. Stroud, A. M. Davis, and George B. Frazier) requested a school levy of seven mills be set for educational purposes. The following year, school taxes were collected, and $10,000 in bonds was approved by the taxpayers. Plans called for a two story, four-room brick structure that was later named the Lowell School (shown below). (Both, courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

The Grand Valley School, pictured above in 1911, and the high school student body, pictured below in 1894, attest to the growth of Grand Junction’s youth. Mrs. O. H. Ellison identified the students. From left to right are (first row) Eva Canon, Roy Dickinson, Roy McClintock, Bernard Rice, Mary Baldwin, Lois Strain Craven, Carroll Baldwin, Rex Graham, Lee Allison, and unidentified; (second row) ? Wood or Woods, Stella Rundle, unidentified, ? Carver, Mable Nesbitt, Valeria White, Edith Jaynes, three unidentified, Louise Strouse, and unidentified; (third row) Eddie Innis, Ed Welch, unidentified, a Mrs. Long (teacher), Cora Nesbitt, unidentified, Arthur Wadsworth, two unidentified, Ed Layton, and Harry Jones; (fourth row) Bessie Hunter, Marion Littlejohn, five unidentified, May Rice, unidentified, Hayden Green, and William Borschell. (Both, courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

The 1903 Grand Junction Radio Club (above) is pictured with a homemade radio, and the 1926 Grand Junction High School marching band (below), under the direction of Audrey Strong, shows the diversity of extra curricula activities. Beginning in 1895, the number of high school graduates dramatically increased. The four-year courses of study included one year of English and American literature and four years of plane and solid geometry, trigonometry, advanced arithmetic, and algebra theory of exponents and quadratics. Four years of sciences included botany, zoology, mineralogy, astronomy, physics, and chemistry. Five total years of history included English, Greek, Roman, mediaeval, modern, American, and political economics. Also offered was a total of eight years of Latin, German, and French. (Both, courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

The early grades of the Lowell School (pictured above) produced future recruits for the girls’ basketball team (shown below). The girls were more interested in basketball than the boys, taking advantage of the fall practice time when the boys switched sports to spend more time with football. The girls’ basketball team produced an impressive list of names of young women with high grades and leadership potential. One popular basketball coach was Mae Carroll, who taught and coached at the high school for 12 years. She terminated her teaching when she married John H. Fry, a noted Grand Junction lawyer. Victoria Wilhelmy also taught physical activities at the school and coached girls’ basketball for eight years. (Both, courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

The 1895 football team (pictured above) was the first for Grand Junction High School. From left to right and listed by last name only are (first row) Herrick (extra), Van Buren (left end), Kit Miller (left half), Layton (full back), Ketchum (right half), and Clark (right end); (second row) Doyle (extra), Wadsworth (center), Baldwin (extra), Coulter (quarterback), Toupain (right tackle), Currie (extra), and Ryan (extra); (third row) Hill (manager), Cogswell (right guard), Innes (left tackle), Buckley (extra), and Cocora (left guard). In 1899, a team identified as C. C. I. featured the football talents of Charles Jillian and D. F. Dyker. The source of their school was not identified. (Both, courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

Only a few members of the 1900 high school football team are clearly identified: (first row) Ralph Todd (far left), Art Johnson (third), and Charles Carson (sixth). Will Mayers is behind Carson. Other players on the roster included George A. Warning, Walter White, Jene Phillips, ? Ewing, Willis Smith, Samuel Gourley, Charles Heald, Pard Moore, ? Clark, ? Meyers, and W. M. Buckley. (Courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

The uniforms of this 1911 high school team have changed, but the players look the same as their alumni. The number of coaches or field help appears to have increased since the days of the first team. Approximately at this time, Philip McCary went on to become the all-conference halfback of the University of Colorado. (Courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)

The Grand Junction High School program was extended from three to four years in 1893. These three young ladies and young man were graduated in 1894 (pictured at left). The ladies (in no particular order) are Lillian Waters, Cora Nesbitt, and May Rice; the young man is Claude A. Bulkley. The Grand Junction High School Class of 1901 (shown below) was slightly larger. The objective of each graduating class was to prepare to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the colleges and universities throughout the country. Grand Junction soon got an institution of higher education. (Both, courtesy of the Loyd Files Research Library, Museum of Western Colorado.)