As restrictions from the COVIC-19 pandemic have required parents to homeschool their children, it’s natural to reflect on the role schools—and, more specifically, schoolhouses—played in the history of the High Plains. Often the first building constructed in the small communities that sprung to life in the late 1800s and early 1900s, schoolhouses often served a multitude of purposes from the meeting hall and polling place to the location of the widely attended dances held every weekend.
Many of the schoolhouses were modest, single room buildings, constructed with whatever materials were available to accommodate a small group of students and one, maybe two, young teachers. But, sometimes, the schoolhouses—not unlike the communities where they were built—aspired to something grander and perhaps more reflective of the importance placed on education.
One such building is the schoolhouse located in what is now known as Arlington. For years, this graceful, two story structure has caught the attention of those traveling down Highway 96. And one such person is Ashley Doty, as the article credits below.
