The first school in Burlington was first construted in 1894 at Mormon Bend. The building was used for church and puplic affairs. This building was abandoned and sold in the spring of 1895. Men went up to the mountains in wagons and got lumber to build a 16' X 32' one room schoolhouse in Burlington. The 2 acers of land was donated by Rev. L. C. Tompson. This was also used for all comunity events and Church until Church houses and dance halls were constucted. The men of the comunity donated time and labor to make the benches and the teachers table. The first teacher was J. W. Agee. He was paid $50 a day. the school term went for 75 days. Lydia Hoffman taught in 1896-97. In 197-98 Joe Reid was the first Mormon teacher at the new Big Horn County #20. In 1898 the school was extended to make two rooms. The floor was made from slabs from the mill with the rough side turnded down. In 1901 a two story building was built close to the old school building. It had two rooms on each floor and a large entrence hall. It was cobined to form three rooms below and an upstaris room for the older kids. Chester Neves Said "They built a new school with a bell that rang every morning at 8:00 and you could hear it all over the vally. I went to the eighth grade about three years. They didn't graduate them like they do now. You went to school as long as you wanted to, and when you got to be 21 they wouldn't let you go any more. one of the main things I remember was walking there and facing the cold winds in the winter. That's the only time I went. I'd have to work on the farm until the work was done in the fall, then i'd have to stay out in the spring to put in the crop. Father was carpentering all the time. It took a lot to keep all that family in shoes and clothes." |
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09.07.10
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