Medicine Bow Origin and History
History of Medicine Bow School, District No. 6 -
1876
School District #6 was organized in 1876 when the first one-room
school house was built in Medicine Bow. It was
located South of the railroad tracks, facing the
present town site.
This school was destroyed by fire
sometime between 1890 and 1900. The school was then
moved across the tracks into the new school built
by the district. That building now houses the
present Episcopal Church.
Lenora Walker became the first principal
of the Medicine Bow School in 1913. In 1914 the
first brick school was built. It consisted of two
(2) rooms upstairs and two rooms in the
basement, and two teachers for eight grades.
1923 - The first High School was started
in the basement of the 1914 school. For several
years, only two years of High School was
offered. Due to unstable footings of the 1914
school (reported by local residents who attended
the school as saying "it swayed in high wind"), it
was condemned and demolished. Some of the bricks
from this 1914 school were used to build the new
school in the summer of 1926.
1926 - The new school was not finished
by the fall of that year and was not ready in time
for school to start. When school did start sometime
in November, the children had to go on Saturdays
and Holidays to catch up. The school consisted of
four rooms upstairs, housing the grades 1-8 and
two rooms and a gym downstairs housing the high
school. The first four year high school was
started September 2, 1929, in the basement of this
school, with an enrollment of 24 students.
The first graduation was held in May of
1931. The class consisted of five students,
three girls and two boys. They were Maxine
Elliot, Lester Cheesbrough, Phylis Hansen, Warren
Kerr, and Loydea Thompson.
1948 to 1949 - The present gym was
started in 1948 and completed in 1949.
1960- A "Hot Lunch Program" and the
"Home Economics Program" were started. Three
buildings were brought from Kortes Dam to the
present school site and used for these purposes
until the new high school building was completed.
1961 - The new present day Elementary
Building erected.
1964 - The new High School was
completed, gym completely refinished due to a fire
that summer. Dedication Ceremonies were held on May
2, 1965. The bell from the 1926 school was kept as
memento.
During the late teens and early 1920's,
the country in the North end of the district was
filed upon by homesteaders and required a number of
country schools, as there were no roads for
transportation by buses to the school. Finances
were handled largely by the local school boards.
Oil royalties were divided among the districts
according to the number of teachers, these
royalties very nearly paid the salaries of the
teachers. At one time School District No.6 had as
many as three or four of these rural
schools within its boundaries. As families came and
went so did the schools. At times ninth grade
subjects were offered as a permit High School.
The largest rural ranch school in
District No.6, was probably the Griffith-McGill
School near Muddy Creek which had approximately
four pupils at one time. The families left and
the school was abandoned.
Others were the Bennett School on the
Little Medicine above 32 Crossing, The Robber's
Roost Ranch (which was known as the Ware Company
Ranch at that time), the Spade Ranch, and the Boles
Ranch (both on the Little Medicine Bow), the Bowser
School, and
Heins School located East
of the Little Medicine Bow near County Line
18,
30 miles
North of Medicine Bow. Kock
School in the extreme North of the district where
it adjoined Natrona County (near the Shirley Basin
School).
District No.32 was later incorporated
into School District No.6, and had small schools
such as the Beer Mug School, Richards Ranch and
Sullivan Ranch. After the consolidation, the Beer
Mug School became known as the Ellis School.
In 1926 the first transportation of
pupils began. R.C. Cooper was contracted to furnish
a bus to transport the Kerr and Richards children
to and from school in Medicine
Bow.
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