Historic school could become museum

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Mount Pleasant School as it stands today about eight miles northwest of Alamosa. School association members hope to acquire the one-acre of land it sits on and eventually restore it into a schoolhouse museum.

Historic school could become museum

ALAMOSA — A 1975 proposal to move the Mount Pleasant School to what was then the Adams State College campus to use as a schoolhouse museum was never realized.

Thanks to the efforts of the still existing Mount Pleasant School Association that owns the building, the museum idea may eventually happen at the school’s original site some eight miles northwest of Alamosa. However, they need to take ownership of the one-acre parcel first.

The land, part of a full section originally acquired by the Colorado State Land Board in 1876 at statehood, has survived earlier attempts to sell it, but the Alamosa County Board of Commissioners approved purchasing the plot at a Jan. 14, 2020 meeting. The asking price for the one-acre parcel is the appraised value of $30,000.

Residents have until May 1 to comment on the sale according to a public notice in the Valley Courier published the past four weeks. Comments can be sent to matthew. [email protected]. The State Land Board will consider comments at a public meeting currently scheduled for July 8 at the state office in Denver before transferring ownership.

Roger Knapp, president of the Mount Pleasant School Association, said that group has continued to raise funds for the purchase of the land with the hope of turning it into a museum. Residents in the community have pledged their support to help purchase the property and to refurbish and maintain it, and with state and national historic site designation, grants may be acquired.

According to history provided by the State Land Board, in 1888, a single room public school was built on the southeast corner of that section. The original school building was replaced twice and the last structure, built in 1911, remains on the site today. (See Saturday’s edition for a complete history.)

In 1925, the State Land Board disposed of the majority of the Section, retaining only the one-acre site where the Mount Pleasant School building is located. Up to possibly five generations of school children have been served by the school, according to Knapp, including himself, his mother and grandfather.

The schoolhouse officially closed at the end of the 1964-65 school year. Different entities owned the building subsequently. In 1989, the Mount Pleasant School Association took ownership of the building. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 2006 as one of the few remaining one-room schoolhouses.

Ron Rivale, State Land Board district manager for the Southwest Region based in Alamosa, said he doesn’t expect any negative comments concerning the transfer of ownership to Alamosa County and eventually to the association. It would be a direct exchange from one government agency to another, he explained. “We are delighted to help the Alamosa community preserve this historic schoolhouse,” said Greg Ochis, Assistant Director, Colorado State Land Board.

“We hope that by owning the land under the building, the Alamosa community is successful in obtaining grants to restore the unique and historic building that has deep ties to the community dating back to the turn of the 20th century.”

The Colorado State Land Board owns and stewards 2.8 million acres of land, and lease these assets to help fund Colorado public schools. The board has earned $1.7 billion for Colorado public schools since 2008.

“We are very proud to be the primary funding for the Colorado Department of Education’s Building Excellent Today Program (BEST),” said Kristen Kemp, outreach and communications officer for the board.

“BEST has provided capital construction grants to 524 schools serving 225,000 students since the program’s inception in 2008.”

Those grants have funded the construction of numerous schools in the San Luis Valley, the most recent being a new North Conejos District building.


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