County High built after consolidation

In the fall of 1953, a new era dawned on the St. Charles Mesa in rural Pueblo County.

That was when Pueblo County High School was opened, bringing together the students from Blende, Vineland, Avondale and, eventually, Boone to one location.

During the past 50 years, the school has become the anchor for the communities in eastern Pueblo County.

It has experienced the boom that came with the rapid growth at the Pueblo Ordinance Depot and then watched as enrollment decreased when the depot downsized.

It has undergone several additions through the years that have enhanced the campus including the addition of classrooms, a swimming pool, a stadium, a new gymnasium and many improvements to the buildings and athletic fields.

County High School came into being shortly after the 33 rural school districts from throughout Pueblo County were consolidated into one district - District 70 - in 1950.

Building a new modern and centrally located high school was listed as one of the top priorities of the new district because the existing three rural high schools, Pleasant View, Avondale and Lakeside-Vineland, were severely overcrowded.

The new school was built on a former cornfield, located at 35th Lane and U.S. 50. It was built at a cost of $578,000 with all but the land purchase paid for with a federal grant available for growing school districts.

The ground was broken for the new school in April 1953 with the plan to have it completed in a year.

A student body of 440 students from Avondale, Vineland and Pleasant View high schools was formed in Sept. 1953 and classes were held temporarily at the current Vineland Middle School site as they waited for the new building to be completed.

With construction ahead of schedule, the opening date was moved to early November 1953. After two delays, the school finally was opened in December. It became the first new school built in rural Pueblo County in more than 20 years.

The original school building included 22 classrooms, a multiple purpose room that also served as a cafeteria, physics and chemistry labs, an audio-visual room, office space and industrial arts and home economics areas.

Since the school did not yet have any athletic facilities, basketball games were played at Excelsior School and some basketball games were played at the Pueblo Community College gym. Football games were played on a dirt field behind the school.

In the first several years after the school opened, improvements were constantly being made to the building and grounds.

Shortly, after the school opened the Pueblo County's Quarterback Club, which was developed to help fund the athletic department, organized a bond drive to raise money needed to build a stadium and bleachers just east of the school building. The labor to construct the bleachers and lay down the sod on the field was done by students.

The first game at the Hornets home stadium was played Sept. 17, 1954.

By 1957-1958, driveways were curbed, window curtains were added and outdoor basketball courts were constructed.

In the mid-60s, the second phase of construction on the school began. This included the addition of physical education facilities, including a new gym, a library, four science rooms and extended the shops.

The 1970s brought more changes to County High with the $3.3 million expansion project that was completed in 1976, the year County became a four-year school.

The projects completed with the expansion project were the swimming pool, an auditorium, auxiliary gym, new classrooms, a commons area, tennis courts and new grandstands on the north end of the football field.

Through the most recent bond issues, County has added a vocational agriculture building (1999) and this year, added air conditioning and renovated its library and swimming pool.