The High Schools of Cañon City
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Old South Cañon High School
1104 Park Avenue
Cañon City, Colorado
Often forgotten in the telling of a town's local history is the story of the development of its educational system. Cañon City's story is one filled with great promise, a little disappointment, and much success. But as many long-time residents will recall, Cañon City has supported as many as five separate high schools in a town with a relatively small population. They were the Cañon City High School, the South Cañon High School, the Colorado Collegiate & Military Institute, the Mount St. Scholastica Academy, and the Holy Cross Abbey School.
In 1866, Cañon City citizens formed District #1, the area's first formal school district. It would be the first of no fewer than 45 separate and distinct school districts in Fremont County. Before the invention of the automobile, travel of any distance greater than two miles was rare for most county residents, so each small community would develop their own district to serve the needs of their children.
Cañon City's first public school building was an older structure known locally as Bates Hall. Located at 518 Main Street, and first used in 1870, the school's first teacher was Nellie Virden Morford. With an initial enrollment of twelve students, this small two-story building served as the town's central education center for ten years.
Located south of the Arkansas River and west of Ninth Street, South Cañon's School District #8 was formed in 1871, with an old log cabin on South Ninth Street being its first schoolhouse.
Prior to the city's incorporation in 1872, schools in the area were essentially for-profit institutions, which were privately-owned and operated on a tuition basis. For those not affording such luxury - which was most of the population - education came by way of home-schooling. Later, churches and local community centers offered group learning for children of different ages to be taught by parents, ministers and volunteers - and by one another.
The district built its first modern school building in 1880. At a cost of $13,472, the Public School, as it was called, was built at 600 Macon Avenue, on the very spot where the County Administration Building now sets. Later named Washington School, the facility had neither plumbing nor electricity during the early years of use.
In terms of both academics and athletics, South Cañon High School was always "North" Cañon High School's rival. In 1885, two schools were built, the Prospect Street School and a new Washington School. In 1887, the Prospect Street School changed its name to the Fourth Street School. The district than added a high school program to the Fourth Street School in 1889, with twenty students enrolling in its three-year course of study. The school name was changed again in 1891 to the Alcott School.
In 1894, the Lincoln School was constructed. Located at 101 North Fourteenth Street, it educated many of the children from the Odd Fellows Home. It is now the location of the School District Administration Building.
As a high school, Washington High School graduated 151 students between 1885 and 1902, when a new school was built to educate only high school students. Also located at 606 North Ninth Street, the new Cañon City High School was touted as the most modern high school in the state. In addition to a chemistry laboratory, and biology and physics departments, the basement also contained two bowling alleys dedicated specifically to use by young women, an armory for the cadets, and athletic showers.
In 1904, owing to a sudden population boom due mostly to mining and fruit farming, and at a cost of $15,000, District #8 built the South Cañon High School at 1104 Park Avenue in Lincoln Park. Prideful and enthusiastic, this small but determined student body excelled in all things academic, coupled with championship athletic teams to cheer for. On the evening of November 14, 1914, it was gutted by a devastating fire and quickly rebuilt.
By 1916, an annex building was constructed at 1029 College Avenue, now the location of St. Michael's Catholic Church, as both a manual training building and the district's high school gymnasium.
But the South Cañon High School lasted only until 1920, when the school graduated its final ten students. With a sudden declining population, South Cañon School District #8 reluctantly consolidated with Cañon City's District #1. The South Cañon High School building became Wilson Junior High School in 1921.
Cañon City has had a long and documented history of not adequately foreseeing the educational needs of the community by under-funding the school district, or waiting years too late to act on immediate needs, often resulting in overcrowding and outdated facilities. And so it was in 1925, after skyrocketing enrollment - due primarily to the consolidation with South Cañon in 1920 - that a new, larger high school was finally built between the 1200 and 1400 blocks of Main Street. Designed for 450 students, this beautiful building served the city well, graduating 4,244 students in its lifetime as a high school.
In 1925, the Alcott School finally changed to Garfield Elementary and the original Cañon City High School became Roosevelt Junior High School.
The Washington School at 600 Macon Avenue continued to serve as an elementary school until 1952, when a new elementary school was built at 606 North Ninth Street. With a seeming lack of creativity, it, too, was named Washington School. Since that time, the Macon Avenue Washington School was referred to as the "Old Washington," and the Ninth Street Washington School was known as the "New Washington." Similar confusion resulted when referencing Lincoln School, since there have been two such schools in the district: the "Old" Lincoln School at 101 North Fourteenth Street, and the "New" Lincoln School located at 420 Myrtle Avenue in South Cañon, built in 1952.
The year of 1961 was a time for rejoicing and a time to celebrate, when the new Cañon City High School at 1313 College Avenue was opened in September. Long, sleek, and low in appearance, the ultra-modern complex built on 33 acres finally conveyed to students all of the physical amenities of the time, including a large gymnasium, several science laboratories, and a foreign language and photography laboratory. The school also sported a brand new single telephone line and two telephones. The old High School at 1215 Main Street was then changed to the Cañon City Junior High School.
In the years to follow, classrooms were added to Cañon City High School, as was a new athletic field. Vocational education programs were expanded, computers were requisitioned, and a new 450-seat performing arts center was constructed.
But as for the South Cañon High School, which was now Wilson Junior High School, it became Wilson Elementary School in 1962. The Roosevelt Junior High School was razed in 1969. Wilson Elementary School was eventually sold in 1970 and converted into an apartment building that remains today. And in 1988, the Cañon City Junior High School was renamed the Cañon City Middle School.
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