Garden Park School
Fremont County
Nominated through the Rural School Buildings in Colorado MPS, the 1895 Garden Park School served as the educational center for the children of local ranching families from its opening until consolidation closed the school in 1961. As the only public building on the landscape for miles, it also served as an important place for social gatherings such as “literaries”, dances, Sunday school, and theater productions.
Garden Park School
Architecturally, the school displays the distinctive characteristics of the schoolhouse building type. Exhibiting such elements as a rectangular plan, front gabled roof, tall narrow windows on each side, and a single classroom, the building’s use is clearly evident when viewing it from a distance. It was built using local labor and abundant native materials – an ample supply of clay from nearby Oil Creek provided the necessary adobe bricks. A stucco application in 1916-17 was a typical treatment for adobe, which was susceptible to deterioration.