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27 S N O W Building Denver’s First Schools however. Many in the community felt the school should be named the John C. Anderson School, after the school board treasurer who had worked diligently to secure the funds to pay for the building. But Anderson, along with a strong opposition crowd, vehemently opposed the attachment of his name to the school, simply preferring it to be called “Number One.”26 With such acrimony, the school board gave no name to the school for the first years of its existence. It was simply called the school building on Arapahoe Street, and (after the third floor of the building was opened for upper grades in 1874) the high school or Denver High School. As other schools were being built and named for the streets where they were built, the first school eventually became Arapahoe School.27 Former Governor Evans spoke eloquently at the school’s dedication. His references to the fact that every student would be allowed to attend “Public School Number One” were clearly a nod in the direction of past difficulties the district had already faced concerning the education of minority children.28 In fact, the Arapahoe School opened as an integrated facility in 1873, leaving the issue of renewed segregation by school and neighborhood for another era.29 After all of the difficulties in getting the city’s tallest building constructed and opened to the public, its use as a school was relatively short. By 1890, Denver had experienced such growth that the school found itself in the middle of a commercial zone, prompting the school board to sell the building to business interests. The high school portion had already moved in 1882 to Nineteenth and Stout. The site was soon a back annex to architect Frank Edbrooke’s Club Building, which fronted on Arapahoe Street. Both buildings met their demise in 1955 to make way for a parking lot. The last evidence of Denver’s first school sits on the grounds of today’s East High School—the Arapahoe school bell is all that remains of this once grand structure. Men work to demolish Old Arapahoe School in 1955. Photo by Ira Gay Sealy, courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection. 28 D E N V E R I N S I D E & O U T NOTES 1 Frank Hall, History of the State of Colorado , vol. 4 (Chicago: Blakely Printing Company, 1889), 4:37. Mr. F. B. Steinberger is listed as the first teacher in the area, near Eleventh and Larimer. Although only fifteen years old, he had fourteen students of his own. Also see Jerome Smiley, History of Denver (Denver: Times-Sun, 1901), 733. While Smiley discusses the possible existence of Steinberger’s school, he also mentions that no other evidence could be furnished to fully support this claim, including no mention of such a school in early editions of the Rocky Mountain News. Thus, Goldrick remains as the first authenticated teacher in Colorado. In addition, in the first written history of Denver, composed in 1866, a mere eight years after the city’s founding, no mention is made of Mr. Steinberger. See Junius E. Wharton, History of the City of Denver from Its Earliest Settlements to the Present Time (Denver: Byers and Dailey, Printers, 1866), 29, 75. 2 Kenton Forrest, Gene McKeever, and Raymond McAllister, History of the Public Schools of Denver: A Brief History (1859–1989) and Complete Building Survey of the Denver Public Schools (Denver: Tramway Press, 1989), 4, 18. Also see Smiley, 735–36. 3 See “School House,” Rocky Mountain News (hereinafter RMN), September 22, 1859, 3. It is probable that the Union School name was derived from the fact that both Denver and Auraria were encouraged to use the school. According to the newspaper , “A movement has been set on foot by the citizens of Auraria and Denver to raise means to erect a union school house, for the use of both towns….” 4 Ibid. This is the earliest known evidence of the school location. Goldrick states the following: “[S]chool will be opened for the reception of pupils on Monday next, Oct. 3, in the room lately occupied by Col. Inslee, Auraria, until a more commodious and comfortable school room and school furniture is made ready.” 5 Denver Board of Education, District Number One, Fifth Annual Report of the Board of Education of District No. One, Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado (Denver: Daily Times Steam Printing House and Book Manufactory, 1879), 6...

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