White School and Horse Barn Expansion (abandoned) – Kim CO

Description

Believed to be presently abandoned, this historic rural school is located at the intersection of County roads 191 and 30, southwest of Kim, Colorado.

“Built in 1921 and expanded in 1936 under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the school exemplifies oneroom schools constructed in eastern Las Animas County during the homesteading boom of the 1910s and 1920s. The school addition and its adjacent WPA-constructed barn, intended to store coal and shelter student’s horses, reflect Depression era New Deal efforts to improve rural education facilities in eastern Las Animas County. The WPA constructed new schools and barns for several rural school districts and repaired the facilities of many others. Constructed for a small school district with minimal matching funds, the project typifies WPA efforts to improve education and to help small communities with limited resources.

The buildings are good examples of WPA Rustic design applied to a simple barn and a school addition. The similarity of the stonework of the original building and the addition shows how WPA construction drew strongly on local building traditions. The stonework displays the labor-intensive, handcraftsmanship associated with the WPA and often referred to as WPA Rustic style. The work crew quarried and finished all the stone.”   (www.historycolorado.org)

The buildings are still standing, but more information is needed on their current use.