Hayden Schools

Hayden's First Schools
The first established school, in the immediate vicinity of the town of Hayden, was formed in 1882 and was in a log cabin on the S.B. Reid ranch (later known as the J.C. Temple Ranch). This was located near Dry Creek, just west of the fairgrounds, near where the Dry Creek road crossed the creek. Oliver McClassin was the first school teacher, of two pupils, Martha and Albert Reid. The school operated there until 1883.
The second school, also log, was just east of Hayden on the Joe Kircher place. Professor John T. White was the teacher there during the years of 1884 and 1885. He became the County School Superintendent in 1887, but died during the winter of 1887 and became the first person buried in what is now the Hayden Cemetery.
1889 saw the building of the first permanent school building in the town of Hayden. It was built by the community, as was the norm of the time, with donated lumber, roofing and other supplies. It sat alone on the north side of the Shelton Ditch (east of Walnut Street) until 1903. The 1894 picture we’re posting shows the building right in the middle of the picture with the white door. The white "strip" in the picture is the Shelton Ditch that runs under Walnut Street. The buildings on the left of the picture are on the west side of Walnut Street. The tall (2 story) white building on the right side of the picture is the Norvel Building - better known as the "Hi Way Bar" on what is now Hwy 40.
But back to the school.... Mr. Stees, from the Elk River, was the first school teacher in this school and is shown in the picture with his students.
After the opening of the Edison School in 1900, the original school building was used by the Congregational Church for their church services until 1903 when the current church was finished. The school building was then moved a few yards away, spun around, and became an addition on the back of the Wagner Saddle Shop on the east side of Walnut Street. This addition is still standing and is the back part of the building formally known as the “Old Door Gallery”. If you walk down the side of the building (on the laundromat side) you can tell where that original school building still stands.
Thank you to the Hayden Heritage Museum at 300 W. Pearl Street in the Old Depot
P.O. Box 543, Hayden Co 81639
(970)276-4380
https://www.haydenheritagecenter.org/

 

---