Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
CLPA-1972.001.0000 |
Object Name |
School |
Description |
Schoolhouse; Littleton's first schoolhouse, built of cottonwood & pine or oak logs, with daubing; pitched roof has wooden shingles; two windows with glass panes and shutters; one room; cast iron stove with metal chimney; contents inlcude desks, benches, and other reproduction materials used in school interpretation by Littleton Museum staff and volunteers. Settlers in the area that would become Littleton began classes in 1864, and informally perhaps as early as 1860 in the home of Isaac McBroom. In 1864, however, a number of settlers met at Richard Little's cabin to organize what would become School District #6, also known as the Littleton School District. The boundaries extended from the Denver city limits in the north to the Arapahoe/Douglas County line in the south, from Sheridan Boulevard in the west to the Kansas border in the east. L.B. Ames was elected president, R.T. Hussy, secretary and R.S. Little, treasurer. For one year, classes met in Little's cabin. In 1865, Harry Pickard donated land for a schoolhouse, and at a cost of $65 a one-room log structure was built by John Bell on present-day Union Avenue just east of the South Platte River, about a mile and a half north of downtown Littleton. The building measured about 16 feet by 17 feet with a single-slope lumber roof covered with sod. The interior was furnished with rough tables and long benches made of pine for the students, a small desk and chair for the teacher and was heated by a box stove. The first teacher was L.B. Ames, who was paid $40 per month during 1866-1867 to teach fifteen pupils. The following year his wife was paid $50 and had but three students. The reason for the drop in enrollment was that Littleton's first frame schoolhouse had opened on the Lilley ranch on the west side of the South Platte River. In 1946, the Rotary Club voted to save the school building, and asked F.A. Heckendorf to move it to Rio Grande Park. In 1970, fifth grade classes from North Elementary were held in the school to "acquaint students with educational systems of the last century." In July of 1972, the school was moved from Rio Grande Park (now Bega Park), to the Littleton Historical Museum grounds, about 100 feet southeast of the blacksmith shop, at what is now the 1890s Farm. At the time of moving, the original sod roof had been replaced with tar paper. Later, the schoolhouse was moved to the east side of the fields on the 1860s Farm. |
Date |
1865 |
Caption |
1860s Schoolhouse, Jan 2, 2009 |
Search Terms |
Building, 1860's Schoolhouse School, Arapahoe County District #6 |