About

The Emerson School was built in 1903, and was originally known as the Park School, possibly because it was located across the street from Cottonwood Park. Its name changed to Emerson sometime before 1910. At the suggestion of Emerson's teachers, the name of Cottonwood Park was also changed to Emerson in 1916. The building had two floors. The school served as an elementary school from its inception. According to teacher Dorothy Tindall, a second-grade class never consisted of fewer than forty students from the 1930s through the ensuing two decades. Sometimes enrollment went as high as 54 students, during the months when the children of the migrant workers were attending (November-April). This prompted the school to devote a downstairs room to the 1st grade education of seasonal students (most of whom lived in La Colonia), who were behind as a result of their families’ schedules. In 1972, the Emerson and Lowell Schools were closed and students sent to Columbine Elementary School. The Emerson building still stands, and has been used by Mesa County Valley School District 51 in other capacities.

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Mesa County

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