Hoyt School
Morgan County
Built to replace a smaller schoolhouse in the same location, the Hoyt School building provides physical evidence about the conditions of rural education in Colorado in the early 20th century. The schoolhouse served as the educational center for this agricultural community from its construction in 1918 until consolidation forced its closure in 1946. During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed an addition that included a stage at the head of the classroom and stairs leading to a new basement.
Hoyt School (2006 photograph.)
The basement, a typical project for this New Deal federal relief program, contains a small kitchen used for the preparation of student hot lunches. The adjoining larger room served as a cafeteria where students ate what might have been their only complete and hot meal of the day. As the largest school building in the district, the Hoyt School also served as an important meeting place and social outlet for area residents by hosting dances, elections, local fairs, dinners and the Literary Society. Listed as part of the Rural School Buildings in Colorado Multiple Property Submission.