The 42nd of a series of caches planned to be hidden at or near the historic rural schoolhouses of Routt County (RCSH - Routt County School Houses). See the first cache of this series (GC6QQ71) for a complete and updated list of the ones currently available - but this list will continue to grow as there were 96 schools which served Routt County neighborhoods from 1883 until 1960 when the rural districts consolidated.
The Edison School -- District #2 (1900-1948) -- Hayden's 4th school
The Edison School sat just below this hillside where the "Redstone Apts" and the tiny houses currently sit. It actually faced this hillside as the main road into Hayden at the time is what is now known as Washington Ave.
The two-story frame building was built in 1900 by Sam Fletcher and his father and housed the Elementary through High School. There was a balcony above the front door and a bell tower. Later the balcony was enclosed, the bell tower removed and a tubular fire escape added. The building was torn down in 1948 when the school was moved to the "new campus" at 495 W. Jefferson. The elementary school was again moved in 1979 to the current campus and the middle and high school remained at the W. Jefferson location until the late fall of 2020.
The First THREE Hayden Schools....
The first established school, in the immediate vicinity of the town of Hayden, was formed in 1882 and was in a log cabin on the S.B. Reid ranch (later known as the J.C. Temple Ranch). This was located near Dry Creek, just west of the fairgrounds, near where the Dry Creek road crossed the creek. Oliver McClassin was the first school teacher, of two pupils, Martha and Albert Reid. The school operated there until 1883.
The second school, also log, was just east of Hayden on the Joe Kircher place. Professor John T. White was the teacher there during the years of 1884 and 1885. He became the County School Superintendent in 1887, but died during the winter of 1887 and became the first person buried in what is now the Hayden Cemetery.
1889 saw the building of the first permanent school building in the town of Hayden. It was built by the community, as was the norm of the time, with donated lumber, roofing and other supplies. It sat alone on the north side of the Shelton Ditch until 1903. After the opening of the Edison School in 1900, the original school building was used by the Congregational Church for their church services until 1903 when the current church was finished. The school building was originally moved a few yards away and became an addition on the back of the Wagner Saddle Shop. This addition is still standing and is the back part of the building that currently houses the “Old Door Gallery” which is run by local Artisans Wednesday thru Friday.