NEWS

Slew of District 70 schools turn 50

GAYLE PEREZ THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/CHRIS McLEAN — North Mesa Elementary School is one of seven District 70 schools celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year.

The 1950s brought lots of growth and prosperity to Pueblo.

With CF&I, the Colorado State Hospital and the Pueblo Depot Activity being the top employers, growth was rampant throughout Pueblo County.

By the end of the decade, new neighborhoods were sprouting up throughout the city and along the St. Charles Mesa. Shopping centers, department stores and other businesses were opening.

During this same period, the population was booming.

By the end of 1958, Pueblo County's population had risen to 129,101, or 3,356 more than in the 1957 census. Much of that population growth was attributed to the baby boom, as the county and the country experienced an increase in births.

Pueblo's education scene also was taking on a different look, as the most extensive school-building program saw the completion of 10 new schools in the fall of 1959 - three in District 60 and seven in District 70.

District 60 added two new high schools with the opening of the identical buildings at South and East on Sept. 1, 1959.

Sunset Park Elementary School also opened to serve the fledgling neighborhood on the South Side of the city.

In District 70, seven new elementary schools were opened, replacing the smaller, sub-standard rural schools that had been scattered throughout the district.

New to the St. Charles Mesa were North Mesa, South Mesa, Vineland and Baxter. Also, Boone, Rye and Beulah schools opened.

Five of the seven elementary schools are still in operation.

Baxter and Boone schools were closed in 1987 due to declining enrollment. Baxter was reopened in 2006 as the Pueblo Technical Academy.

North Mesa, South Mesa, Vineland, Rye and Beulah are all planning 50th anniversary activities for this school year. Specific events have not yet been announced.

When the schools were opened in 1959, it marked the culmination of nearly 10 years of work to provide adequate classrooms for the more than 3,800 students in the rural district.

The need for bigger school buildings came about after several smaller, rural school districts consolidated in 1950 to become District 70.

The consolidation included 28 school districts which held five high schools and 33 elementary schools.

Since that consolidation, school administrators and patrons who supported improved educational facilities attempted to get a bond issue passed to build new schools. The first four bond issues failed before voters narrowly approved a $970,000 bond in August 1958, by just five votes.

A second bond issue requesting $600,000 in supplemental funds was passed in April 1959, to complete the seven elementary schools by fall 1959.

A portion of the supplemental money allowed for a multipurpose room and kitchen units in each of the new schools. The remaining money was used to build a combination gym/auditorium at Pueblo County High School.

A shortfall in the district's budget limited the new schools to basic amenities, however, it did provide adequate space for the growing number of students in the district.

Boone was the first to break ground on its school building in March 1959, and the others soon followed.

Construction on all the schools, based on similar floor plans, took about a year to complete.

But on the first day of school in 1959, only Vineland, Boone and North Mesa schools opened on time.

Beulah and Rye schools opened in October, and Baxter and South Mesa were completed in November.

District 70 held a dedication of all seven schools amid much fanfare on March 19, 1960.

Admiral Arleigh Burke, chief of naval operations, was invited to speak at the dedication of each of the schools, according to articles in The Pueblo Chieftain.

Burke visited each of the schools by helicopter to deliver separate dedicatory speeches.

As part of the festivities, students at each of the schools held pageants depicting the history of their schools.

gperez@chieftain.com

OLD SCHOOL, NEW SCHOOL

District 70 schools that opened in 1959, including enrollment then and now:

Beulah Elementary

8743 Schoolhouse Lane, Beulah

Mascot: Broncos

Enrollment 102 122

North Mesa Elementary

28881 Gale Road

Mascot: Tigers