The old Lordsburg High School building served as the city high school from until In the building was reassigned as a junior high and remained in that capacity until when a new junior high school building was constructed. At that time, the building was again reassigned to serve as the Enrichment Center : a facility to provide special education, administrative offices, and school district storage. After five years as the Enrichment Center, the building was abandoned.
In there was a movement to demolish the building because it had been empty for nine years and, additionally, it was assumed that there was too much asbestos to make it economically feasible to rehabilitate for an adaptive reuse.1 However, it wasn t until that asbestos samples were taken and at that time, it was estimated that the 1 Demolition itself requires abatement of the hazardous materials. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 2) asbestos could be abated for Later the Enrichment Center Analytical Report included the estimated costs to rehabilitate the structure for a new use at a cost of which included the asbestos removal.
At that time, the Lordsburg Municipal Schools did not have a use for the building and therefore could not justify spending nearly $3 million to rehabilitate the building.2 A few years later, in community member Edmund Saucedo nominated the building for the New Mexico List of Most Endangered Places through the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance and the building was added to the list in Although the school system could not rehabilitate the old high school building, there clearly were members of the community who were interested in doing so. Towards that end, in July of the City of Lordsburg and Hidalgo County signed an agreement with Lordsburg Municipal School District to manage the building as joint owners and investigate the possibility of a new use.
In October, the Hidalgo County Heritage Society was established as a non-profit organization to manage fundraising and renovation of the Enrichment Center.3 A few years later this heritage society was successful in listing the old Lordsburg High School on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties. The listing was at the national level of significance under Criteria A and C (SR and included the historic building, its setting, and the WPA sidewalks. Although efforts were being made toward its preservation, the Lordsburg Municipal Schools, city, and county still had not determined how to use the building and again considered demolition.
Under consultation with the State Historic Preservation Officer, the school system contracted a feasibility study and considered options for the adaptive reuse of the building. The study included four alternatives: 1) mothballing the building; 2) keeping the exterior walls; 3) converting the structure to a community auditorium; and 4) reusing the bricks. The school district did not have the resources to rehabilitate the building, but it did support a community use, if one could be found and financially supported through other organizations. The building was offered to other groups, but none could take on a rehabilitation project. The Save the Enrichment Center Steering Committee, who also strived to find alternative uses, could not find an entity to develop a new use.
In the end, no alternatives to demolition were found. Finally, in consultation with the State Historic Preservation Officer under the New Mexico Cultural Properties Act et seq. NMSA it was determined that prior to demolition the Lordsburg Municipal Schools would contract for Historic American Building Survey (HABS) documentation of the old Lordsburg High School. This HABS Level II documentation is a result of that stipulation and was completed by for Lordsburg Municipal Schools. Photographic documentation was completed by Martin Stupich in November, 2 Enrichment Center Analytical Report, no date, no author, provided by Randy Piper, Lordsburg Municipal Schools, Superintendent via email 8 December 3 Enrichment Center Renovation, accessed December 12, LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 3) Part I. Historical Information A. Physical History 1. Date of erection: 2. Architects: J.O. Michaud, Deming, New Mexico Henry C. Trost, Trost & Trost, El Paso, Texas 3. Original and subsequent owners, occupants, uses: The original building was constructed by the local school system and has remained in that system, although the name of the entity has changed since its construction. It is currently owned by the Lordsburg Municipal Schools and has been vacant for 40 years. 4. Builder, contractor, suppliers: Contractor: Jack Heather, Lordsburg, New Mexico Brickwork: Samuels and Son, Deming, New Mexico Contractor: George Wieland, El Paso, Texas 5. Original plans and construction: The original building was designed by J. O. Michaud using concrete and brick.
The building included an above-grade basement with Domestic Art4 and Manual Training classrooms, as well as the building s heating plant; a main floor with two classrooms, a principal s office; and a 40 x 40 assembly hall. The construction plans were completed by May 19, and the main floor classrooms were ready to occupy by November 24, When classes began, the contractor was still completing the Domestic Art room, Manual Training room, and heating plant in the basement.5 The building was rectangular in plan with a central entrance comprising approximately fourteen concrete stairs flanked by a stepped brick wall with a concrete cap.
The entrance opening was rectangular with paired wood doors with sidelights and a transom and it was surmounted by a flat brick eyebrow, a tripartite attic window with concrete surrounds, and a mixtilinear brick parapet with a concrete cap. The entrance was flanked by a series of windows for the classrooms in the basement and on the main floor. The basement classrooms included a series of four narrow 1/1 wood double hung windows whose sills were set on an exposed concrete foundation. The main floor classroom windows were also a series of four 1/1 window units, but the units were wider than the basement windows and connected with a narrow mullion. The main floor windows were set on a concrete band and surmounted by the flat brick eyebrow. The roof was hipped with an overhang and a fascia.
The entrance parapet and steps were repeated on the north and south elevations, at the end of the central hallway. 4 Also referred to as Domestic Science and Domestic Economy. 5 Lordsburg s New High School is Finished and Occupied, Western Liberal, Volume No. 1, Friday, November 24, p. 1; and Plans for High School Arrive, Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 25, Friday, May 19, p. 1. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 4) No extant photographs or plans were found during research that show the 40 x 40 auditorium, which was praised during construction by the local newspaper, Western Liberal; but later floor plans suggest that the auditorium was at the center of the building on the west elevation and that it extended from the main building wall.
One would have entered using the central east elevation stair and the auditorium would have been directly across the entrance hallway. The classrooms were on the east side of a transverse hallway, and the principal s office and another room (presumably for the teachers) flanked the auditorium on the west side of the transverse hall.6 6. Alterations and additions: Renowned southwestern architect, Henry C. Trost, of El Paso s Trost & Trost, designed an addition project for the school in that enlarged the building on the north, south, and west elevations. These additions provided eight more classrooms for a total of twelve, including the basement and main floors, and steel truss auditorium to the west of the original assembly room. B.
Historical Context Lordsburg was established in as a subdivision point for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company of New Mexico, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company (Southern Pacific) that was headquartered in San Francisco and striving for control over west coast shipping. To gain dominance in western commerce, the company was developing a rail line that would run from San Francisco to Galveston, and eventually New Orleans when completed it would be called the Sunset Route.
By Southern Pacific was in control of 85% of the rail lines in California and as early as the company and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway Company (GH&SA) in Texas had reached an agreement that the GH&SA would extend tracks to the west of San Antonio while the Southern Pacific worked to build tracks from California to the east planning to meet in the middle. In order to complete the route, the subsidiary Southern Pacific Railroad Company of New Mexico was established and began to extending a rail line eastward across Arizona and New Mexico.7 The Southern Pacific Railroad Company of New Mexico was incorporated in April of and in September of construction began on the main line that was to run from the Arizona Territory border to El Paso.
The line required divisions and subdivisions to maintain the engines and rails. A division was a length of rail under one superintendent with a large locomotive maintenance yard at either end. Within a division there were a series of subdivisions with an associated crew that maintained the rail lines. The Southern Pacific subsidiary developed three points across New Mexico: Lordsburg, Deming, and Aden. By October of the railroad company had established service between Tucson and Lordsburg, and by December the line extended to Deming. The Southern Pacific rail line finally reached the New Mexico-Texas 6 Historic photograph shortly after construction located in Western Liberal Mining Review, Lordsburg Progress a supplement to the Western Liberal, Volume No. 5, Friday, December 22, p.
11; and John W. Murphey, Application for Registration New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties, Old Lordsburg High School, ductwork plans, Section 9, Pages 7 Donald B. Robertson, Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History: The Desert States, (Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, pp. 81, and LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 5) border in May and as construction continued eastward, it was under the GH&SA charter as originally agreed in When the railroad reached what was to become Lordsburg halfway between Tucson and El Paso and three miles north of a significant mining locality the area was but knee-high grass, cactus luxuriating, and coyotes in swarms serenading [the railroad s] advent.
But, as the local newspaper reported four years after the Southern Pacific created the railroad subdivision point, the locomotive carries the torch of progress and where ever it goes magical changes ensue. By the economy included the railroad, mining, and the cattle industry. Lordsburg had become a shipping point for cattle from local ranches, and gold, silver, copper, and lead from nearby mines; 30 trains per day ran through the town; and there were residents. Also in Lordsburg s first school was constructed between 2nd and 3rd Streets on the west end of town, south of the railroad tracks.
It was built by James Costello, a carpenter who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States in He erected a long gabled shack made of recycled planks, the school opened on March 13, and a May Davenport from Silver City taught the first three month term.9 The same year that Costello constructed the school, the Territory put in place public school laws that ostensibly established a county superintendent; authorized the creation of school districts to be overseen by district directors; and ratified mandatory courses including orthography, grammar, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and United States history.
Although the territorial legislature had established a system and curriculum, four years later, a proponent of public education described teaching in the Territory as remaining in a backward condition notwithstanding the advanced views of the territorial officials and many citizens who had developed a school system that had assumed a tolerably effective form, in theory at least. Although an educational system had been outlined, it had not been effective as evidenced in when the legislature passed a statute that stated anyone who cannot read and write sufficiently to keep his own records in Spanish or English shall not be employed as a teacher.
Evidently, education as a whole in New Mexico had not progressed as originally anticipated by the legislature in The legislature passed a new law in that established common school systems, 11 a Board of Education,12 and the office of the Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction. Each school 8 Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History, pp. 81, and Chris P. Fox, Password, The First Railroad Bridge Across the Rio Grande, The El Paso County Historical Society, Vol. No. 1, (El Paso, Texas, Spring p. 81; and Mary A. Sarber, Handbook of Texas Online, Trost, Henry Charles, accessed November 22, 9 Lordsburg: Its Resources, Its Prospects, Its Men of Merit, Western Liberal, Volume IX, No. 5, Friday, December 13, p. 1; and Application for Registration, Section 12, Page 12.
10 Tom Wiley, Public School Education in New Mexico, (Albuquerque: Division of Government Research, The University of New Mexico Printing Plant, pp. 24; and Simon P. Nanninga, The New Mexico School System (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, p. 11. Although this legislation was the first to establish a formal education system, the Territory had previously tried to do so by collecting taxes to support a public school system through legislation. In the end the law was repealed and the collected taxes were returned. In justices of the peace were charged with assigning a teacher in their precinct. 11 Common schools encompassed kindergarten through high school.
They were intended to provide school experience that was closely related to vocational training (language, math, science in addition to manual arts, LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 6) district was to develop a corporate body (school board) that could enter into contracts. The funds for schools were to be allocated by precinct. The governor appointed Amado Chavez to the public instruction superintendent position and Mr. Chavez pushed to develop an adequate educational system.13 Even though a common school system was created, many New Mexicans felt that education was a luxury and that public funds expended for schools were wasted.
The sentiment was that if a family wanted their children to obtain an education, they could send them to the religious schools that had previously been established in the Territory.14 This however, did not seem to be the prevailing attitude in Precinct No. 20 Lordsburg was a town that took great pride in having a school for its children. The difference was likely cultural: unlike the population that had been in New Mexico for generations working within an agriculturally-based subsistence economy, most Lordsburg families originated from other states where public education was already the norm.
After the initial development boom, by the town population of Lordsburg dropped to 500 residents of whom worked for the railroad) and it had a public school with two educators who taught approximately 50 students. Classes were being instructed in the wood schoolhouse by Emma and Ella Marble, with Emma serving as the principal.15 The Marble sisters were born in Michigan; Emma in and her sister two years later. Their father, W. H. Marble, was a teamster involved in the mining industry and in he moved the family from Virginia City in Nevada to the New Mexico Territory mining town of Shakespeare, three miles south of Lordsburg.
Once there, they purchased as their new home what had once been the last boarding house of the National Mail and Transportation Company (one of the last stage coach companies in the area). When she was old enough, Emma went through training at the New Mexico Normal School (now Western New Mexico University) in Silver City to become an educator and she graduated in Shortly thereafter, she began teaching school at Lordsburg for $70 per month. She served as a teacher in New Mexico for the next 54 years and her father served as one of the early school directors at Lordsburg.16 The original schoolhouse in Lordsburg was so crowded by that the local school board rented an additional building across the street to provide supplementary space.
This overcrowding eventually led to planning for a new schoolhouse. As part of the preparation, the Western Liberal pushed for Precinct No. 9, which had few voters or students, to become part of Precinct No. 20, so that the funds from the under-populated area could be put to full use for the highly-populated area.17 Additionally, there was an undisclosed sum of money in the estate of a domestic art, or agriculture). Jonathan H. Wagner. Report of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of New Mexico, for the Biennial Period Ending November 30, (Santa Fe: New Mexico, p. 11. 12 The board included the governor, superintendent of public instruction, and the presidents of the University of New Mexico and St. Michael s College. 13 Education in New Mexico, pp. 33.
14 Marian Meyer, A Century of Progress: History of the New Mexico School for the Deaf, (Santa Fe: New Mexico School for the Deaf, p. Education in New Mexico, p. 27. 15 Lordsburg: Its Resources, Its Prospects, Its Men of Merit. 16 Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census. Lordsburg and Shakespeare, Grant County, Territory of New Mexico, June L. W. Lewis, Page No. 80; Silver City Daily Press, Friday, May 3, p. 8; and Marc Simmons, Growing up a Girl in Territory, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Saturday, October 11, pp. Registration Form, Section 12, Page 13. 17 Western Liberal, Volume XII, No. 31, Friday, June 9, p. 3. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 7) Harry Marshall that had been set aside for Lordsburg schools; however, past school boards had been unsuccessful in obtaining the funds. In the spring of a new school board was elected and they hired legal counsel to follow up on the issue. The Marshall estate settled with the school board and provided four payments of each to support education in Lordsburg. The estate funds and the recent sale of town lots were pooled to use for construction of a new school.18 Eventually, as stipulated by county superintendent, the new building was constructed on the site of the previous wood school building, between 2nd and 3rd Street.
Towards that end, the school board negotiated with a George Broxton to salvage the wood from the old schoolhouse, an estimated value of and work as the bricklayer for the new building (bartering wood for labor).19 The new building was on Lot 2 of Block 15, at the southeast corner of the intersection of what was later to become Penn Street and 2nd Street, fronting onto 2nd Street.20 The building included two classrooms that were 34 square flanking a central 14 wide hallway. The walls were constructed of brick with limestone quoins, a shingle roof, and a belfry. This new building doubled the available space for students and was constructed in a manner that would allow for an addition on the rear, which was constructed by (using Lot 4) and provided two more classrooms.
The Western Liberal attributed the success of the project to Horace L. Gammon, a member of the school board who had championed the new school and had been instrumental in the negotiations with the Marshall estate.21 Mr. Gammon was born in Bath, Maine in and had moved to Virginia City, Nevada as a young man. By he had moved to Lordsburg, worked as a carpenter, became a married man with four children, and had grown into a force of progress for the local school. The new school building he had championed was under construction in and although it was ready for classes in the fall of the first few weeks of school were taught at the Christian church.
Once construction was complete, classes were moved to the new school, which included new single student desks, globes, maps, charts, slate blackboards, library cases, and wood stove heating. Lordsburg s new school had ultimately cost and was hailed by the Western Liberal as one of the finest in New Mexico.22 Status of the new school was reported in the county superintendent s annual report to Amado Chavez who had continued to serve as the Territorial Superintendent since his appointment in At the time, Lordsburg was in Grant County (Hidalgo was not established until and the county report noted that the property value for county schools greatly increased to with the addition of the new building, as well as additions in Pinos Altos, Santa Rita, and repairs 18 Western Liberal, Volume XII, No.
18, Friday, March 10, pp. 2 and 3; additional town site lots were sold in which resulted in an additional for school board use, Western Liberal, Volume XIV, No. 47, Friday, October 4, p. 2. 19 Western Liberal, Volume XIV, No. 23, Friday, May 24, p. 3. 20 Sanborn map of Lordsburg. 21 He might have also been involved in the construction, but the resources found during this documentation were not entirely clear on the matter. 22 Western Liberal, Volume XII, No. 35, Friday, July 7, p. 3; Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census. Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada, Charles McDuffie, 18 June Page No. 27 and Department of Commerce, and Labor Bureau of the Census. Precinct 20, Lordsburg, Grant County, New Mexico Thirteenth Census of the United States: Population, 16 April B.A.
Copeland, Sheet 16A; Western Liberal, Volume XIV, No. 23, Friday, May 24, p. 3.; and Western Liberal, Volume XIV, No. 44, Friday, September 13, p. 3. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 8) on other school buildings.23 Adding to the value, a new fence was constructed at the school in Lordsburg. School opened in the fall of with the local paper declaring that they did not know whether the new fence was to keep the children in or the burros out. 24 The population in Lordsburg continued to grow and in the school year opened with 35 students in the advanced room (presumably high school age) and 78 in the primary department.
In only a short four years after construction had been completed on the new brick schoolhouse, the building had become too small for the student population: Lordsburg was contemplating an addition and hiring another instructor.25 That same year, the school board hired a contractor to construct a building to securely store the firewood used to heat the school on the west edge of the block where the school was located.26 Apparently theft of the wood used to heat the school building had become an issue, to such an extent that the school board estimated that the previous theft equaled what it would cost to construct two or three wood sheds, and the board was so troubled that they stated that if someone was caught stealing wood, the thief would be sent to the penitentiary for burglary.
27 It seems that in addition to wood pile theft at the school, a number of local ruffians attended classes there: six years earlier a Major J. F. Robertson had been hired not only as an instructor, but also as a strong, well built [sic] man, with a quick eye and a ready hand. 28 While he had served in the military and the school board was seeking that kind of strength, he was also from a family of school teachers and had two daughters teaching at Deming and his daughter F. Gertrude Robertson joined him in teaching at Lordsburg.
In Grant County included 23 school districts and 30 teachers with student enrollment at although the daily attendance was around The teaching staff at Lordsburg grew from two to three to accommodate the increase in students and the Western Liberal reported that the district would need to construct an addition or new building in order to provide adequate facilities for the students.29 The El Paso Herald noted in that Lordsburg was in need of a high school as pupils had gone as far as the public school could take them and that parents either could not afford or did not want to send their high school aged children to the New Mexico Normal School in Silver City to be educated.30 The normal schools in the Territory were not established to educate high school pupils, but rather their mission was to supply the grammar schools of the territory with competent and carefully trained teachers, devoted to their chosen profession and conscious of its splendid possibilities.
31 While the Normal School provided the service of educating high school students that were sent there, it was not ideal for the residents of Lordsburg to send their children out of town, so the school board began to look at options to provide the needed classroom space locally. Considering the options took years, and over time 23 Western Liberal, Volume XV, No. 9, Friday, January 10, p. 2. 24 Western Liberal, Volume XV, No. 43, Friday, September 5, P. 3. 25 Western Liberal, Volume XVIII, No. 42, Friday, September 15, p. 3. 26 Sanborn Map, 27 Western Liberal, Volume XVIII, No. 51, Friday, November 17, p. 3; Western Liberal, Volume XVIII, No. 44, Friday September 29, p. 3. 28 Western Liberal, Volume XII, No. 40, Friday, August 11, p. 3. 29 Western Liberal, Volume XVIII, No.
42, Friday, September 15, p. 3; Western Liberal, Volume XVIII, No. 35, Friday, July 28, p. 3. 30 Wants More Education, El Paso Herald, Monday, August 12, p. 4. 31 reference to original school catalog, accessed LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 9) the local newspaper became involved. Three years after the El Paso Herald noted the need for a separate high school building, in the Western Liberal received standard plans and specifications for new school buildings from J.E. Clark, the Territorial Superintendent. The information was in a book the superintendent had contracted: Plans and Specifications for Small School Buildings, prepared by the Johnston Brothers, School Architects from Alma, Nebraska.
The Johnston Brothers book included plans and specifications for different school types from a one room building to a two-story, four room schoolhouse, each of which could be constructed of adobe, lumber, or brick. The Johnston Brothers noted that no school should be set on a lot smaller than one acre and that lighting, heating, and ventilation were key components for education. They recommended that: There should be 30 cubic feet of fresh air per minute for each student and they included diagrams and text on how to achieve this. Wood stoves should be jacketed to provide more even heat. Windows should be on the east or west elevations for New Mexico.
Lighting should enter the classroom from the left, that windows be grouped and extend to the ceiling with the sill at eye level for sitting students, and that no window should be in front of the first row of desks. 32 According to the Johnston Brothers document, the standard classroom size was 24 x 30 , which would seat 40 students at the time this was considered the maximum number of pupils that a teacher could properly instruct. The 24 width was set to assure good light throughout the room.
The published standard plans for all types of schools regardless of room number or construction material included: a vestibule, cloakrooms, supply closet for the teacher, a wood stove, lighting entering the room from the left, teachers desk at the left front, blackboard, and door transoms and a fresh air flue to ensure ventilation.33 The two room brick schoolhouse included two exterior doors that served as separate entrances into each of the classrooms, but they were connected on the interior with a hall and small wash room (with basins, the toilets were outhouses external from the school building). The four classroom, two-story brick building included one entrance with a central hall and staircase, flanked by classrooms on each floor, with cloakrooms on the west side.
The windows were in a bank on the east elevation, with the blackboard and teachers desks on the south walls of the classroom. The north and south external wall of the classrooms included one window. These brick standard plan buildings included flat roofs with parapets.
The wood frame and adobe standard plan schools included hipped roofs.34 Based on the Johnston Brothers plans, specifications, and estimates, the Western Liberal noted that the town could replace their existing four room schoolhouse with two of the standard plan, two-room brick schoolhouses at a cost of The paper went on to say that Lordsburg could have had five or six of the standard plan brick schools for the same amount of money that had been put into maintaining and updating the one unsightly building, which had been the pride of 32 Johnston Brothers, Plans and Specification for Small School Buildings, (Santa Fe: Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction, p. 22. 33 Small School Buildings, p. 13, and 28. 34 Small School Buildings, p. 49, 53, 55, and 59.
LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 10) the town just a few years earlier. The Western Liberal stated that the Territory s standard plans for schools provided quality light, ventilation and comfortable warmth in the winter and that the Lordsburg students deserved better than patchwork funding of repairs for a structure that provided them with what had become a substandard educational facility.35 Although the issue had been discussed since and the paper had been adamant in that the Lordsburg school district required a new building, in when New Mexico became a state, a new school still had not been constructed.
However, with the new statehood came new laws and potential opportunities that affected the development of schools: 1) An annual tax levy of mill on all taxable property in the county was to be used for the maintenance of schools. 2) The state treasurer was to credit of the existing school fund to a separate fund (called the reserve fund) that was to be used to maintain a school for five months. 3) The superintendent of public instruction was to then prorate the reserve fund using the census numbers of school children by county and submit his numbers to the state treasurer and auditor who would then provide a warrant to the county treasurer. 4) The reserve fund assets would be drawn if the tax levy did not cover the school expenses.
5) The need for funds would be determined by the county superintendent, verified by the state auditor, and released by the state treasurer to the county. 6) School directors and boards of education had the authority to purchase, lease, and maintain schoolhouses. 7) School directors and boards of education were required to submit an estimate of funds necessary for each year. 8) County commissioners were given the authority to put in place a general county tax of three mills to support the schools.36 Additionally, the legislative session laws of provided the ability to establish county high schools. This required a petition of at least 20% of the registered voters in the county and if a majority of the 20% voted for the county high school, the school could be legally established.
The governing board was to be the school board in the district in which the high school would be located and would also include the county superintendent. The county commissioners could also assess a two mill levy within the county to support the school, and the course work at such a school was to include manual training, domestic science, and the elements of agricultural and commercial science.37 In March of likely due to the fact that funds would be potentially available for a new school building, the school board finally voted to finance a new schoolhouse that would include two classrooms, a basement, and indoor toilet rooms. First they hired a surveyor to layout a high school38, which they were unhappy with, then they hired a J. A.
Pitts, an architect from nearby San Simeon mining area to draw plans for a fee of When the plans were received, 35 Western Liberal, Volume XXIII, No. 16, Friday, March 11, p. 2; Western Liberal, Volume No. 27, Friday, May 24, p. 3. 36 Education in New Mexico, pp. 37 Education in New Mexico, pp. 38 Presumably to locate a standard plan building on an appropriate site. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 11) the local paper was highly critical of the design: the writer felt that the furnace room should not be in the basement with the Manual Training and Domestic Science classrooms, and that the architect s layout meant that coal would have to be hauled through the main hallway to the furnace.
The paper also felt that there should be more windows in the main room classrooms and that, as drawn, that it was not possible to ventilate rooms or release smoke from the furnace, as flues were not included on the drawings. The writers at the paper had clearly studied the Johnston Brothers standard plans for New Mexico schools.
It is likely that the Pitts plans were revised, but ultimately the design was scrapped when construction bids came back higher than the architect s estimate.39 As a result, the school board voted to find a new architect and they became determined to hire Trost & Trost from El Paso.40 The firm of Trost & Trost had been organized in the early it had established a strong reputation for noble architecture, and it had completed a number of educational facilities, including the campus plan for the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Las Cruces (now called New Mexico State University) and all levels of school buildings throughout New Mexico and Texas. Trost & Trost was a family business with Henry C. Trost as the head.
Henry s parents were Ernst and Wilhelmina Trost, German immigrants who had arrived in the United States in the Ernst Trost had been a contractor and a carpenter, which likely influenced the career choices of his sons. Henry C. Trost was their first child, born in in Toledo, Ohio; then seventeen years later Wilhelmina delivered twins: Gustavus Adolphus and Adolphus Gustavus. Two years later the brothers welcomed their sister, Matilda. Following in his father s construction industry footsteps, Henry stayed in Ohio and worked as a draftsman and attended art school to better his craft. In he began a series of jobs in the west moving through Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Fort Worth, Galveston, New Orleans, and Dodge City.
Then finally in he moved to Chicago and began employment as an ornamental metal designer. While there he became a member of an organization that became known as the Chicago Architectural Club. The club operated in a comparable manner to a school of architecture and it held competitions, exhibitions, sketching sessions, and lectures on architecture. While in Chicago and participating with the club, Henry C. Trost was exposed to the work of Louis H. Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and attended the World s Columbian Exposition where he saw examples of the Mission Revival style.
Although Chicago was the heart of the American architectural movement, Trost eventually left the city to move to Colorado Springs in and three years later he moved to Tucson, Arizona to serve as the architect for the Carnegie Library in that town.41 When his work in Tucson was complete, Trost s final career and geographic move was made in when he relocated to El Paso to join his brother Gustavus Adolphus. Gustavus was the superintendent for the construction of the El Paso Carnegie Library and had moved there in 39 Western Liberal, Volume XXVI, No. 28, Friday, May 30, p. 3; Application for Registration, Section 12, Page 14. 40 Western Liberal, Volume XXVI, No. 28, Friday, May 30, p. 3. 41 Henry F.
Withey, AIA, Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architect (Deceased), (Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., p. Mary A. Sarber, Handbook of Texas Online, Trost, Henry Charles, accessed November 22, LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 12) Once Henry arrived, the two brothers formed Trost & Trost and hired their nephew, Aldolphus s son, George Ernest Trost. Six years later, in Adolphus Gustavus, who was a structural engineer, joined the firm. Ernst s three sons and his grandson had formed what was to become one of the preeminent architectural firms in the Southwest.42 Trost & Trost designed at least 300 buildings in El Paso, as well as hundreds more through West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Their portfolio ranged from bungalows and one-room schoolhouses to concrete skyscrapers. For thirty years, Henry was chief designer of the firm and exhibited an ease and flair for using any architectural vocabulary. He was particularly skilled at adapting the architectural theories he had been exposed to in Chicago to the deserts in which he was working. After his death in his family continued running the firm until the early but without Henry s design influence, few buildings of architectural significance were designed.43 By the the architecture of Trost & Trost had become highly regarded throughout the Southwest and the Lordsburg school board was desirous of a building of stature. They sought out Henry C. Trost and were excited when they were successful in hiring the firm.
Trost & Trost produced a number of preliminary design sketches for the school board to review. From the selection, the school board chose one of the designs and the firm developed plans for a building that met the requirements of the standard plan and specifications book. His plan included 13 thick brick walls, two classrooms that were 32 x 24 separated by a 10 hallway, a blank wall for a blackboard, a wall of windows on the east elevation (each unit separated by a 17 mullion), and end walls with two 4 windows. The design did alter from the Johnston Brother standard plan for brick schools in that it included a hipped, shingled roof instead of a flat roof with a parapet. After reviewing the design, the Western Liberal congratulated the school board on securing a fine set of plans.
44 This building was constructed just to the south of the original brick and limestone schoolhouse, on Lots 6 and 8 adjacent to 3rd Street, but fronting to the east.45 This school eventually became known as the Primary Building. The town had provided more space for the grammar school children, but because there was no space to teach high school, students desirous of high school courses had to travel to Silver City to attend the classes at the New Mexico Normal School. When the building was put out for bid, the school board held in their coffers; Jack Heather was hired to build the new structure in August of for a little over five thousand dollars.
46 Although the Lordsburg school board had increased its available classroom square footage with the new Trost & Trost building, they remained desirous of a modern facility that could serve as a dedicated high school. A little more than a year after the new school structure was complete, the school teachers, directors, and parents met to discuss how to secure more instructors and a high school building for Lordsburg. At the time, one of the teachers was involved with 14 classes per day, which included teaching anywhere from 1st grade to high school course work. Those at the meeting felt that the most economical way out of their dilemma was to construct a new high 42 Handbook of Texas Online. 43 Ibid. 44 Western Liberal, Volume XXVI, No. 34, Friday, July 11, p. 2. 45 Sanborn Map.
46 Western Liberal, Volume XXVI, No. 37, Friday, August 1, p. 3. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 13) school building under the recent state laws that allowed for levies and county high schools.47 In January of there was a community meeting at which a petition to obtain a new high school was discussed. In order to obtain a new school, a majority of 20% of Lordsburg registered voters had to agree that a new school was needed. Concurrently, Silver City, which was also using the New Mexico Normal School as a place to educate their high school age children, was looking to construct a county high school as well. As such, the two communities formed a committee to represent their interests with the department of public instruction at a state conference.
The goal was to establish two county high schools: one in Lordsburg, for students in the southern part of the county and one in Silver City, for students in the northern part of the county.48 The school board was a proponent of a separate high school building and it was reported that although they had spent thousands to fund the Trost & Trost building, they maintained healthy coffers. According to the local paper, the county officials stated that if the school board had enough funds, they would be required to construct the school of their own accord and that those not from the town would be required to pay tuition.
However, the intent of the school board in Lordsburg was to support a free county school for all county communities including Gold Hill, Animas, Playas, Redrock, Hachita, Rodeo, and Separ, in addition to children in Lordsburg. With the confusion in the discussion, it was not clear whether Lordsburg s bid for a county school would be successful, so the community looked for alternatives to accommodate their high school-aged students. In May of in an effort to obtain a dedicated high school curriculum, the local paper asked Why not an addition to the present school, more teachers, and a high- school course for Lordsburg s term?
49 Although compromises were being discussed, in July, the county commissioners ordered a tax levy, which was allowed under the new state laws, for Lordsburg aimed at raising over two years that would be devoted to the construction of a dedicated high school building.50 Although the county had originally planned to raise funds over two years, by March 3, financial resources were available for the design and construction of a new, high school for Lordsburg. Then, by May, architectural plans for the construction of a new high school had been submitted for review by J. O. Michaud of Deming, and an advertisement for bids was announced in the newspaper.51 The Western Liberal reported that the architect was from Deming, New Mexico and proclaimed that he was a well known architect.
Previous researchers could not find J. O. Michaud in the historical record, and not much was found during work for this documentation. However, there was a J. Michaud living in El Paso for some time and he had 47 High School for Lordsburg: More Room and Advanced Grades Needed at Local School, Boost for High School! Western Liberal, Volume XXVIII, No. 5, Friday, December 18, p. 1. 48 High School Meeting Tonight, Western Liberal, Volume XXVIII, No. 9, Friday, January 15, p. 1; Western Liberal, Volume XXVIII, No. 7, Friday, January 1, p. 5; Playas Pleads for Goof Roads: Animas Lands to Be Opened For Entry; Lordsburg Wants High School. El Paso Herald, Tuesday, January 12, p. 12; and Plans go Forward for High School, Western Liberal, Volume XXVIII, No. 10, Friday, January 22, p. 1.
49 Western Liberal, Volume XXVIII, No. 26, Friday, May 14, p. 4. 50 Western Liberal, Volume XXVIII, No. 35, Friday, July 16, p. 1; School Opens Monday, Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 43, Friday, September 15, p. 1; and No Action Taken for High School, Western Liberal, Volume XXVIII, No. 14, Friday, February 19, p. 1. 51 Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 25, Friday, May 19, p. 4; Volume XXIX, No. 26, Friday, May 26, p. 1. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 14) numerous advertisements in the El Paso Herald for his work as a contractor. This was Joseph Michaud, a French Canadian who had immigrated to the United States in moved to Texas, and married an Irish woman, Katherine Fahey in El Paso in He and his family eventually moved to Mesa, Arizona and then Santa Cruz, California.
There is no other evidence of a J. Michaud in the southwest during the early New Mexico did not institute an architectural state board of examiners until so in the the use of the term architect was used more loosely than it is today. It is possible that the contractor, who had been involved in the construction of many brick buildings in El Paso, may have moved west to Deming and set up shop. Many El Paso architects and contractors were working in Deming and Lordsburg, and while The Deming Headlight and Western Liberal both have numerous articles about architects, the only references to Michaud (including advertisements) are connected with the Lordsburg High School.52 J. O. Michaud s design was accepted and a request for bids was released in the paper twice.
After the first announcement, it was publicized that bids would be opened for the or high school on June 10. The next week, the paper announced that E.F. Moran & Company of Deming had been awarded the contract at a cost of but that only the basement and first story would be constructed, and that the remaining building would be completed the next year. But then a week later, a new notice for bids was released in the Western Liberal that required a bond from the bidders for the amount of the bid.
As a result of this new notice, the successful contractor for the new county high school building was Jack Heather with a bid of The board must have felt comfortable with the new contractor (even though his bid was higher than the anticipated cost of the school that was noted in the June 10 paper), as Heather had recently completed the Trost & Trost brick schoolhouse known as the Primary Building.53 The Lordsburg school year opened on September 25, with an enrollment of 235 students, a new building that was almost complete, and an educational curriculum for high school students. The curriculum included science, mathematics, language, and domestic science. The courses were taught by three teachers: Mr. Padgett, B.A.
from the University of Oklahoma, was the school superintendent; Miss Harvey, B.A. from Occidental College in Los Angeles, taught Spanish, Latin, and English; Clark, from Oregon University, taught mathematics and English; and Miss Demphinolf,54 from the Agricultural College in Manhattan, Kansas, taught Domestic Economy (and third grade). As the new school year was beginning, the Board 52 Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census. Fort Worth City, Tarrant County, Texas, Thirteenth Census of the United States: Population, 19 April William L. Gibson, Sheet 4B; Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Santa Cruz Township, Santa Cruz County, California, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 11 April Isobel Croft, Sheet 8A; Deming Headlight, Volume XXIV, No.
XLIII, Friday June 16, p. 1. 53 New High School Building Started, Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 36, July 28, p. 1; Bids to be Opened, Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 29, Friday, June 9, p. 1; Lordsburg is Growing Fast: School Trustees Let Contract for Erection of a Modern High School, El Paso Herald, Thursday, June 15, p. 12; The Deming Headlight, Friday June 16, p. 1; and The Santa Fe New Mexican, Volume 53, No. Monday June 19, p. 5; and Bids Wanted, Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 31, Friday June 23, p. 1. 54 This teacher s name was spelled differently each time it appeared in the Western Liberal: Demphinolf, Demplewolf, Dempewolf; it appears that the latter is correct, in she is referred to as Elizabeth Dempewolf. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 15) of Education was working to add tennis, football, and other sports.55 Although the school year had commenced in September, the new high school building was not ready until November 20. On that day, Jack Heather s work was deemed substantially complete, and the high school students and teachers finally moved into the new building the first Lordsburg educational building to have electric lighting. Although they moved in, the steam heating system was not fully installed and the Domestic Economy and Manual Training classrooms had not been furnished with the required equipment, but classes began using temporary devices until the ordered items arrived.
Curriculum for the new high school was as follows: First Year: English; Sewing and Cooking (for girls); Manual training and mechanical drawing (for boys); Foreign Language (Latin or Spanish); Science; Algebra Second Year: English, Advanced Sewing and Cooking (for girls); Joinery and drawing (for boys); Foreign Language (Latin or Spanish); Algebra; History. Third Year: English; Dressmaking and household management (for girls); Cabinet work and drawing (for boys); Plane and solid geometry; History (ancient); Foreign Language (or elective subject).
Fourth Year: English; Dietetics and home nursing (for girls); Advanced cabinet work and drawing (for boys); American history and civics; Physics; Foreign language or commercial arithmetic and penmanship.56 As with the original brick and stone schoolhouse, within a few years of construction of the new high school, the community realized that it would likely require a larger building soon. The local population grew as a result of World War I the mining in the area around Lordsburg had increased considerably because the local ore was important in supporting the war effort. Copper production increased 50% from to and the local mines produced tons of siliceous ore and both were shipped by rail.
The siliceous ore that was mined in the Lordsburg area had a value of the two primary types of rock containing high-grade silica in the area were rhyolite and ricolite. Prior to World War I, these stones were being used by the construction industry for buildings. The rhyolite was white and used for walls and the ricolite was semi-transparent, striated with white, yellows, and grey and used for ornamental architectural applications much of the stone was sent to Chicago. When World War I broke out, the absorptive qualities of the stones, which included 44% silica, was needed for protection of the troops. The ore sent from the Lordsburg area mines was milled to produce sodium silicate, which was then purified and processed into a silica gel.
The resulting product was used as an agent in gas mask canisters for the absorption of vapors from sulfur mustard and chlorine gas that was weaponized during World War I.57 As a result of the increase in silica and copper mining and shipping it through the town railyard, Lordsburg went through a new period of prosperity and with that came an increase in population. 55 Public School Notes, Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 44, Friday, September 22, p. 1. 56 Help from Parents Necessary For Success Says Supt. Gordy, Lordsburg Schools Open Sept 3, Western Liberal, Volume No. 39, Friday, August 24, p. 1. 57 Fayette Alexander Jones, C.E., E. M., New Mexico Mines and Minerals: World s Fair Edition, (Santa Fe, New Mexico: The New Mexican Printing Company, pp. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 16) In a special article in the Western Liberal noted that there was a great deal of construction in town, including many new brick homes, apartment buildings, and completion of the army cantonment.58 With the new growth, the town community finally incorporated as a city. Two years later, the Santa Fe New Mexican noted that Lordsburg was modern in every respect and that the mining industry continued to do well, thousands of cattle were shipped from the town every year (up to worth per month), and the irrigation projects in the Gila valley had made it as fertile as the great Imperial Valley in California.
59 The overall prosperity was an asset to the high school, as long as school children showed up to learn appropriations for schools were based upon average attendance.60 The school superintendent was concerned that even with a large enrollment, students would not attend steadily in the numbers necessary to provide adequate funds to maintain the school. As the high school was developing, the nature of Lordsburg s commerce was beginning to change. World War I had ended and the need for the locally mined ore was greatly reduced, but while there was a mining industry loss, the country was transforming from dirt and mud roads to a nationwide system of reliable, hard-surfaced, all-weather highways, 61 which affected the commerce in Lordsburg.
Just as the high school was being constructed in the United States government responded to the Good Roads movement and passed the Federal Aid Road Act, which authorized $75 million to be spent on roads over the next five years, resulting in miles of improved roads in New Mexico. As the town was anticipating an updated road system, the school district continued to experience growing pains, and the high school sought accreditation. The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (established in had become responsible for the accreditation of schools in New Mexico in when the Department of Education became a member.
The department had joined the association in an effort to standardize education throughout the state and shortly after becoming a member, 15 New Mexico schools were accredited. In Lordsburg High School applied for accreditation, but was turned down.62 Then the next year, the high school finally received accreditation this was the same year that the New Mexico Educators Association approved compulsory school for children under the age of 17, which not only assured education for the children of New Mexico, but that attendance numbers would rise and become more steady. In there had been 18 candidate schools for North Central accreditation in the state and of the 18, Lordsburg was the only school admitted.
That year there 58 Building Activity in Lordsburg Gives Evidence of Prosperity and Town Growth, Western Liberal, Volume XXXI, No. 11, Friday, February 22, p. 1. 59 Lordsburg, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Volume 57, No. Sunday, September 5, p. 25; Incorporation for Our Town s Good, Western Liberal, Volume XXIX, No. 21, Friday, April 14, p. 1. 60 School Opens Monday Sept. 3. Western Liberal, Volume No. 40, Friday, August 31, p. 1. 61 P. T. Colgrove. Good Roads Are Great Factor, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIV, No. 31, Thursday, October 20, p. 1. 62 North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Annual Report of the Lordsburg High School, located in State of New Mexico Records Center & Archive, Department of Education Records, Box Folder 1.
LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 17) were 21 high schools, 4 state schools with high school programs, and one university (University of New Mexico) that were accredited in New Mexico. 63 At the time, the county s Superintendent McLeskey made it clear that the accreditation was important, because technically, if a school were not accredited, a person with a certificate as low as the first grade could teach there and potentially in substandard facilities.
Whereas, an accredited school employed only college-educated instructors, and had a library, laboratory, and classroom environments of a specified standard.64 In order to graduate, accreditation required students to attain 3 units in English; 1 unit in American History/Civics (including New Mexico history); unit in physiology/hygiene; 3 units in an elective (science, language, history, etc.); 2 units in mathematics (unless they were on a vocational track for domestic science, commercial, or agriculture); and other courses as desired for at least 15 total units.65 To provide more variety and support the goals of pupils in attaining units towards a career, in the school published a resolution to add a commercial curriculum to the high school.
This curriculum included shorthand, dictation, and bookkeeping. The resolution also called for a one-year program for recent graduates and a two-year program for junior and high school students.66 As part of the accreditation requirements, Lordsburg had established a school library. It began with a request to the Parent Teachers Association for a bookcase, and then developed into a larger collection of books. The reference and supplementary books that had been gathered by amassed to 400 books for the library, and the superintendent was planning on increasing to books in the collection.
As the school was developing the library, the superintendent also made a plea through The Lordsburg Liberal to not only support the school library, but to build a public library to provide greater resources for the students and the community.67 Accreditation of the Lordsburg High School and adding a library at the school affected the physical school building. The original building had not been designed with square footage for a library, so as the library grew it enviably impinged on the available space for classrooms or administrative offices.
Also, in an effort to maintain the accreditation, during the school received a modern steam heating plant, an unfinished room in the building was plastered to serve as a classroom for the additional students, and a commercial course was added that included typing, short-hand and elementary bookkeeping.68 While the school was being updated, the Good Roads movement morphed into new legislation that would affect Lordsburg commerce and ultimately the attendance numbers at the high school. 63 R.A. McLeskey. Lordsburg An Accredited High School, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXVI, No. 5, Thursday, April 19, p. 1. 64 Ibid. 65 Lordsburg School Opens Sept. 7, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIX, No. 41, Thursday, September 2, p.
1; Annual Report of the Lordsburg High School ; and Resolutions of N.M.E.A. Passed by Convention, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIIL, No. 38, Thursday, December 2, p. 2. 66 Resolutions on Commercial Course, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIII, No. 39, Thursday, December 9, p. 2. 67 Library is Boosted, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIIL, No. 32, Thursday, October 21, p. 1; and R.A. McLeskey. Value of a Public Library to a School, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIV, No. 37, Thursday, December 1, p. 3. 68 School Notes, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIV, No. 28, Thursday, September 29, LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 18) The Federal Highway Act of expanded the federal role to develop a national highway system, resulting in state highway departments responding to the needs of a nascent trucking industry. At that time, a letter from Senator Colgrove (Michigan) was printed in the Lordsburg Liberal supporting Good Roads and congratulating the people of Lordsburg for getting caught up in the spirit of Highway Transportation.
69 The nation was intent on building a network of highways and the citizens of Lordsburg supported a highway, because they welcomed new forms of commercial enterprise that would come with the improved road and it would reduce the 9 hour, arduous drive to El Paso (at that time, most traveled between El Paso, Deming, and Lordsburg by rail).70 In the early there was a new highway, and the Lordsburg High School continued to receive annual accreditation, and the superintendent had developed a new curriculum and updated the building the district was providing the best education possible for the youth of the town. In there were 296 pupils in the grade school and 63 in high school, with 33 boys taking Manual Arts.
The newspaper noted that the numbers were a great increase over the year before when there were only 21 registered at the high school. The superintendent had to respond quickly to the incredible increase over one year and he began to look to the future, when the large numbers of students at the grade school would be moving up to the high school. He knew he would be able to provide the proper facilities because, the people of Lordsburg place a value on their school and are ready at all times to respond to the needs of the school with [the community s] interest an assistance [they had been] able to make progress in the school. 71 As the superintendent was looking toward the future, a year later in the state legislature passed new laws regarding education.
This was the first substantial move that established educational controls and codified school regulations in New Mexico.
The new laws stipulated that county commissioners would levy a special school tax that would provide the funds for a full nine month term (the tax could not be more than 18 mills); schools with 50 students or less would only be allowed one classroom; a state education budget auditor would be in charge of school funding for all districts; and the State Board of Education would be responsible for educational standards, including teacher certification and the minimum standards of instruction.72 The new teacher certification required a college degree, which meant that Lordsburg would need to attain new educational staff, as a number of previous instructors only had a high school degree.73 With an accredited school and new standards for educators, The Lordsburg Liberal provided an assessment of the teaching staff at the outset of the school year as the finest appearing teaching groups not the fancy, frilly type, but a fine appearing bunch of earnest workers who seem to be impressed with the idea that they are not here for a winters [sic] outing, but for a 69 Good Roads Are Great Factor.
70 Ted Raynor. Southwest Folklore, The Lordsburg Liberal, Friday, December 5, news clipping from Lucien A, File papers, Inhabited Towns, Lordsburg Hidalgo County, New Mexico State Records Center & Archives. 71 Lordsburg Schools Will Open Sept. 4 , The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume No. 24, Thursday, August 31, p. 1. 72 Education in New Mexico, pp. School Laws of the Last Legislature, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXVI, No. 7, Thursday, May 3, pp. 1 and 3; School Notes, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume No. 36, Thursday, October 12, p. 3; Lordsburg Schools Will Open Sept. 4. 73 Lordsburg Schools Will Open Sept. 4. ; A New Teacher s Certificate Law, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXVI, No. 6, Thursday, April 26, p. 1. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 19) school year of work and honest service.
The newspaper felt that the school had improved every year to provide a good education and environs for students. That year, prior to opening school, the main building had been refurbished, desks added, and the Manual Arts department moved from the main building to rented space in the second story of a large adobe in front of the grammar school in order to make room for the seventh and eighth grades at the high school.74 The grade school was experiencing high attendance and required additional space, so shuffling grades to another building and moving Manual Arts provided a means by which the district could continue to provide the necessary facilities to educate their students.
Ultimately, the moves meant that the district would have to decide soon for which school a new building would be provided. As with previous school decisions, even though the buildings were undersized and the city had to rent additional space for the high school, it took time to determine the best plan of action for a construction project.
In there were 38 boys and 46 girls in the 9th through grades at Lordsburg High School, with an average daily attendance of Additionally, the building housed the 7th and 8th grade classes, although the numbers noted in the Superintendents Report weren t broken down so one can know how many extra of the younger students were in the school; however, on August 14, The Lordsburg Liberal reported that the high school was in danger of losing its accreditation with North Central because there wasn t enough recitation room in the school.
To meet the requirement, the superintendent reassigned rooms, but he noted that if the community was to retain an accredited high school it would need to provide better facilities.76 In a new interstate highway was planned to go through Lordsburg and there were changes at the high school. U.S. 80 was commissioned as a highway that would run from San Diego, California to east of Savannah, Georgia, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The new route was considered the first all-weather bi-coastal highway, was called the Broadway of America, and Lordsburg was on it. With the highway came new commerce, as Americans now had more freedom to travel, tourism began to flourish, and the trucking industry developed.77 As U.S.
80 came into being and the local economy changed from mining to supporting automobile tourism, the high school was at capacity. As the school year began, the newspaper noted that the 8th grade classes would take place in the high school assembly room and the 7th grade classes in the room next to the office. Additionally, the principal moved his office to the little room 74 Lordsburg Schools Started Off Nicely, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXVIII, No. 34, Thursday, September 4, p. 3.
75 Annual Report of Superintendent of Hidalgo County, July 15, Annual Report County School Superintendent, Volume III: Guadalupe County, Harding County, Hidalgo County, Lea County, Lincoln County, Luna County, located at New Mexico State Records Center & Archives, Department of Education records, serial number 76 R.A. McLeskey, Schools to Open Tuesday Sept. The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXVIII, No. 31, Thursday, August 14, p. 1. 77 Karen Van Citters, Mary Ragins, Robert Mallory. Historic Context and National Register Evaluation of New Mexico Department of Transportation Bridges, (Santa Fe: New Mexico Department of Transportation, pp. William Kasynski. The American Highway, (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, pp. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 20) south of the study hall to make room for the new commercial teacher.78 The school was also restructured so that teaching was departmentalized and thereby if a student failed one class, the individual would only fail that class and not the entire grade. Also that year, government tests were put in place, so that students would perform the same in New Mexico as they did in New York, Massachusetts, or California. 79 Under the curriculum standards from North Central: high school classes were an hour long with 15 minutes of intensive study, 30 minutes of recitation, and 15 minutes of explanation followed by direction for new lessons. Recitation was an instructional format whereby students acted as instructors.
The teacher would work with the student who was to instruct the class; this new curriculum was seen as bearing a social efficiency that would better prepare students for participating in a democracy. The overall idea was that the students would be trained to attack problems and have the ability to serve without merely doing what he is told to do. In addition to classroom instruction, a half hour was dedicated for physical education and each student was also allowed an hour period for extracurricular activities, such as drama, student government, glee club, band, or chapel.80 The school year opened in with a plea in the local paper that all were welcome at the school, including irregular students.
These were the students that would attend classes as they could or wished to, rather than every day. Part of this allowance was driven by the commercial course and the desire to retain the instructor. The number of teachers the school could employ was determined by attendance, so even if students did not attend regularly, they could affect the attendance number to the degree that the school would be allowed to keep the commercial instructor, even if pupils did not attend on a daily basis. And, providing the coursework that a commercial teacher provided, allowed the school to keep its accreditation.
So it was important for funding and accreditation that the school to retain its students, even if they could not attend on a full-time basis.81 In there were 52 boys and 56 girls attending Lordsburg High School with an average daily attendance of On March 24, Lordsburg determined that the high school would receive priority over the primary school for a new building and the school board planned for a building that would cost to construct with an additional for architect s fees. The structure was planned to include 16 classrooms, a library, an office, a 45 x 80 auditorium, and ancillary rooms. The school board determined that the new space would be provided through an addition to the J. O. Michaud building.
While the original high school had been paid for through a tax levy, the sum required for the new square footage was above the amount that could be raised using a levy under the laws regarding education in New Mexico. As such, it was 78 Helen Johnson. School Notes, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIX, No. 45, Thursday, September 30, p. 4. 79 School s Organized, Faculty Complete, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIX, No. 39, Thursday, August 19, p. 1. 80 Ibid. 81 Lordsburg School Opens September 7, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XXXIX, No. 41, Thursday, September 2, pp. 1 and 4. 82 School Reports, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL. No. 15, Thursday, March 2, p. 4. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 21) determined that the funds would be raised through a bond, which would require a vote the first municipal bond for the city of Lordsburg.83 On March 7, at a meeting of the Lordsburg Common Council (city council), a petition with 76 signatures of registered voters was presented. The petition was to request a special school bond election for the Lordsburg School District, Hidalgo County, New Mexico in the amount of for the purpose of erecting school buildings. After the signatures were verified, the counsel resolved that an election should be held on April 8, and that an announcement be placed in the newspaper that the election would conform to Section 706 of Chapter 148 of the Laws of The community was ready to develop the high school.
On March 10, The Lordsburg Liberal reported We have put this matter off just as long as possible, but the time has come when we must provide adequate facilities to properly house our schools, which have outgrown the present buildings 85 Then on March 24, R. B. Ownby of the school board wrote in the paper to clarify the issue and described that the purpose of the bond was to erect a new high school building incorporating the present building.
He noted that it was important, because the high school had rented additional space since and that the school was bound to continue growing.86 Because it was critical to the education of the local youth, he urged that not less than 200 citizens of Lordsburg vote for the bond.87 On April 14, the newspaper published a Notice of Canvass [sic] of Special School Bond Election that showed the citizens had voted for the bond, with 99 votes for and 4 votes against and on the front page The Lordsburg Liberal announced that it had passed at a voting ratio of 24.
Although Ownby did not receive the 200 votes he had desired, there were enough votes for the motion to carry and the bond be made for construction at the high school.88 The community was going to update their high school and was certain that the building would be a credit to the state. 89 Because they held the architects in such esteem, the Board of Education once again hired Trost & Trost to design a school building in Lordsburg. The firm was tasked with providing the required spaces by designing an addition to the high school. Henry C. Trost developed a design approach that created additional classrooms by extending wings to the north and south and enlarging the auditorium to the west. The new structure for the auditorium included steel trusses to create a 36 wide space.
Trost produced a rendering of the building fa ade that changed the roofline from a hipped roof with a central entrance parapet, to a flat roof with parapets at the perimeter. His design kept the central entrance and mixtilinear parapet, but added finials on each 83 R. B. Ownby, School Bond Issue to be Voted on April 8, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 18, Thursday, March 24, p. 1. 84 Proceedings of the Common Council, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 17, Thursday, March 17, p. 4. 85 Vote for School Bonds and Make it Unanimous, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 16, Thursday, March 10, p. 1. 86 The same day as Ownby s article Lordsburg s high school received a renewal of accreditation by D. M.
Rockey, the chairman of the New Mexico State Commission; Lordsburg School is on Accredited List, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 19, Thursday, March 31, p. 1; Application for Registration, Section 12, Page 17. 87 School Bond to be Voted on April 8, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 18, Thursday, March 24, p. 1. 88 Proceedings of the Common Council, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 21, Thursday, April 14, p. 1 and 4. 89 Schools Bonds Carry More Than 24 to One, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 21, Thursday, April 14, p. 1. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 22) side; altered the window brick eyebrows to a central medallion; and included mixtilinear parapets on each wing entrance. Ultimately, these details were changed: the central parapet that J.O.
Michaud had designed was removed and replaced with a simpler, geometric design that had a central round flanked by flat parapets that were topped with a concrete cap and it matched the entry parapet on the Primary Building that Trost & Trost had previously designed. The parapet surmounted a rectangular tripartite, divided light window and brick eyebrow. The brick eyebrows over the windows remained and were repeated for the classroom windows on the addition; also, the entrance finials were not installed. The wing entrances were further simplified using only a concrete-capped, triangular extension parapet above an ocular window that surmounted the door.
The new high school building went out for bid in April and plans were available at Trost & Trost in El Paso, Texas and the School Board offices in Lordsburg, New Mexico for certified check (to be returned to the unsuccessful bidders, and the successful bidder once the building was delivered and accepted).90 The bids were opened on May 19, at at the Hidalgo County offices. George Wieland of El Paso won the contract and a Forney served as Wieland s superintendent. The architect and contractor sought brick to match the building; even so there still was a visible line where the addition started. To hide this, Italian cypress trees were planted in front of the connection.
Trost matched the window pattern for the classrooms on the main floor, but enlarged the window width for the basement and instead of 4/4 windows he used 6/6 units to bring more light into the rooms. His design also included quoins on the corner above the concrete band between stories. In July of Adolphus Trost made a field visit to the high school construction site and noted that he was pleased with the progress.91 Because the building wasn t ready at the beginning of the school year, in order to accommodate the construction, classes were moved from the building. The 7th grade attended class at the northwest room of the Wilson School (the primary school), while the grades attended classes at the south end of the McEvoy Building.
The commercial building housed a local store (the McEvoy Store) that would buy and sell anything, which included guns, furniture, stoves, sewing machines, trucks, and jewelry.92 While the educators were glad to have space to begin the school year, they were certain that classes would take place in adverse conditions and that ultimately the work of the students would suffer for it. They were anxious for the renovated high school to be completed.93 The teachers and students finally moved into the newly enlarged building on October 18, and it was announced in the paper a few days later that the board of education had formally accepted the school, which had no superiors in the state, according to the size of the community.
94 The paper noted that Trost had pronounced everything about near as 100 percent 90 Call for Bids on High School Building for Lordsburg School District No. 1, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 22, Thursday, April 21, p. 3; New High School is a Credit to the State, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 47, Thursday, October 20, p. 3. 91 Architect Trost is Pleased with Work, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 33, Thursday, July 7, p. 1. 92 McEvoy Store advertisement in The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 43, Thursday, September 22, p. 4. 93 Lordsburg Schools Open Sept. Sixth, The Lordsburg Liberal, Volume XL, No. 40. Thursday, September 1, p. 1. 94 New High School is a Credit to the State. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 23) perfect as possible, and when the Trosts say anything is good, you don t have to look any further. 95 The newspaper noted that the new auditorium would be a credit to any city and that it included indoor/outdoor scenery painted by the Oklahoma Scenery Company; the Domestic Science, Manual Training, library, and superintendent office were models ; and there were eight new classrooms.96 In the primary school across the street from the Lordsburg High School was replaced with a large, two-story brick structure by Trost & Trost: the Central School. That same year the high school received new furniture and equipment. The Great Depression had not yet hit the city, but it was about to affect Lordsburg with the closing of the neighboring mines and an influx of New Deal programs.
The programs that affected the high school were the construction of miles of sidewalk throughout the city, the construction of a football field to the west of the school building, school tennis courts, and the addition of books to the library.97 No architectural changes were made to the high school during the Great Depression or the following years of World War II, but the post-war environment brought changes. In a report called Our Children and Our Buildings, was released by the New Mexico Department of Education in which it was reported that there was a great deal of overcrowding in the state s schools. Fortunately, the community of Lordsburg had recently voted for a new school bond of to meet their overcrowding problem.
During Lordsburg built a new high school campus designed by Schaefer & Merrell, an architectural firm from Clovis, New Mexico. The new facility was constructed of concrete, steel, and glass and it included square feet with classrooms, a study hall, library, and rooms for economics, commerce, science, music, and vocational education.98 Once the new high school was complete, the old building was reassigned to serve as the community s junior high school and at that time the old Domestic Science and Manual Arts rooms in the basement were renovated to serve as a kitchen and cafeteria. The building served as a junior high school until when a new junior high school was constructed.
At that time, it was reassigned as the Enrichment Center to support special programs associated with Central School and continued in that role until For a few years the building held administrative offices, then became general storage, and then the school that was once the pride of Lordsburg was boarded. It had continued to be used for 49 years after its Trost & Trost transformation with no significant exterior architectural changes to the building it stood empty for 40 years as a testament to the educational past of Lordsburg. 95 Ibid. 96 Ibid. 97 Application for Registration, Section 12, Page 24. 98 Application for Registration, Section 12, Page 29. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 24) Part II. Architectural Information A. General statement 1.
Architectural character: This building is an adaptation of the Mission Revival style and is characteristic of early century standard plan school buildings in New Mexico. It meets the requirements for a two-story, multi-room brick schoolhouse in that it has a central entry hall that is intersected by a transverse hallway. The entry hall is flanked by classrooms with a bank of east-facing windows and across the transverse hall there is central auditorium flanked by offices. The addition provided additional classrooms on the north/south ends of the building with four addition classrooms, one on each side of the hall at each end. The new classrooms on the west side of the hallway broke the previous rule established by the Territorial superintendent for only east-facing windows in classes.
The addition also provided for a much larger auditorium on the west, which became a resource for the community of Lordsburg. 2. Condition of fabric: The exterior is in good condition; however, the doors and windows have been boarded with plywood (the windows were wood, 6/6 double hung units on the first floor; wood 4/4 double hung units on the portion of the ground floor and 6/6 on the ground floor addition). The wood louvers of the rectangular attic vents on the main building and the circular attic vents on the auditorium addition have peeling paint. The circular attic vent on the south elevation of the main building has been pushed to the interior. The concrete bands, concrete stairs, and concrete caps are spalling.
The band at grade is in fair to poor condition at the connection between the building and the addition, due to excessive spalling. The brickwork line between the original building and addition is clearly visible. There are some step cracks in the entrance parapet, and the parged window sills on the original building (added when the addition was constructed) are delaminating. Many of the downspout ends are missing. Trees and other vegetation are growing at the foundation. The interior was in poor condition and a safety hazard; the project team was not allowed inside the structure. B. Description of Exterior The Lordsburg High School is T-shaped in plan, has two-stories with a flat roof, and is constructed of machined brick with a pink-colored mortar.
The brick of the additions is harder and more uniform than the original brick; the newer brick is keyed into the old, but because of the change in material there is a visible line at the additions (originally these were hidden by tall Italian cypress). The top of the T is on the east side of the building and contains the entry hall, classrooms, small library, and offices, while the leg of the T contains the auditorium. The building is an interpretation of Mission Revival and on the east elevation includes a central curved parapet flanked by a flat parapet, all with a concrete cap surmounted by a line of brick that extends slightly from the main fa ade.
Beneath the parapet is a tripartite rectangular window surmounted two horizontal brick insets over a flat brick eyebrow that protrudes half a brick width from the fa ade that extends down along the entrance opening and ends with a two-brick square. The door opening includes a concrete stair landing and a central door that was originally LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 25) flanked by sidelights and surmounted by a transom. The door is flanked by narrow, tall windows on either side that rest on a concrete band that extends from the door jamb to the brick wall at the entrance opening. There are 13 concrete steps and two landings (one at the entrance and one at the seventh riser) that are flanked by deep brick walls with concrete caps.
The entrance is flanked by banks of windows for the classrooms on the first floor, which were originally divided by wood mullions, and on the ground floor there are four windows divided by 17 brick walls adjacent to the entrance and four windows divided by 8 brick mullions at the north and south. The ground floor windows sit on the concrete foundation and the first floor windows on a concrete band (it appears that originally the band was brick and was later parged). The first floor windows are surmounted with the same brick eyebrow as the central entrance. There are rectangular attic vent openings with wood louvers and a brick sill above each window bay.
The corners on the first floor include nine rectangular brick projections that extend from the concrete band to the parapet and read as quoins. The elevation is capped with a row of brick ends that alternates between one projecting from the fa ade and one flush with the fa ade, surmounted by a row of lengthwise bricks that project slightly from the brick end projection, topped with a concrete cap. The projections read as dentils that form the wall cap. The north and south elevations include the nine quoins at the corners on the first floor, the concrete footing and band, and the elevation dentils/concrete cap at the parapet.
The center of the elevation includes a short stair with landing (3 steps on the south and 5 on the north) into what would have been a central door with sidelights (it is now covered with plywood). The concrete band between floors runs across the top of the door head and is surmounted by a pair of windows with a brick sill and separated by a brick pier, which is in turn surmounted by a circular attic vent with wood louvers. The parapet reflects the central entrance by including a gabled brick parapet extension above the flat concrete cap on either side. The west elevation of the classroom addition wings on the north and south includes the same dentils and concrete bands, as well as five evenly spaced window openings on the first and ground floors.
The elevation includes a larger opening on the first floor with a regular window opening centered on the ground floor, at the interior corner of the auditorium addition. The north and south elevations of the auditorium addition include five bays separated by brick integrated columns with concrete caps, behind which runs a large, flush concrete band. The westernmost bay includes one fenestration on each story that includes a concrete lintel and brick sill. The remaining bays include fenestration that extends from brick column to brick column with the same concrete lintel and brick sill; beneath these are paired fenestration with a brick mullion between them (these include a concrete lintel and sill). There are four round attic vents with wood louvers centered on the bays.
The west elevation of the auditorium addition includes a central, round attic vent with wood louvers, the flush concrete band, and a pair of windows on the first floor and doors on the ground floor with a concrete band and brick sill. C. Description of Interior The interior is highly deteriorated with failing ceilings, peeling paint, and debris throughout the building. In its configuration, it included a central entry hall on the east side of the building flanked by two classrooms and a transverse hallway with a staircase at either end leading to the ground floor and a short exterior concrete stair. The west side of the transverse hall included a LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 26) classroom at either end, an administrative office on the south side of the entry hall, and a small library on the north side of the entry hall. The auditorium extended directly to the west of the entry hall with two entrances on either side. The ground floor included a small office at the center of the building on the east side (under the entry hall); six classrooms, four on the east and two at the ends of the west side of the transverse hallway; locker/toilet rooms at the center; and a girls domestic science room and boys manual arts room extending to the west (where the auditorium is located on the first floor). D.
Site The Lordsburg High School is on a site bounded on the east by Penn Street, the west by the new high school football field, the north by 2nd Street, and the south by 1st Street. The elementary school is across the street. The site is currently encompassed by the WPA sidewalks and a chain link fence with a gate onto 2nd Street. There are concrete walks leading from the central entrance on the east elevation and the two side entrances on the south and north. Originally there was a lawn, but at the time of this report the landscape around the school included only earth and a number of elm trees along the sidewalk edge on 1st and 2nd Streets, with two trees flanking the main walk into the school.
There is one cypress to the south of the main walkway at the edge of the sidewalk on Penn Street. Small volunteer trees and other vegetation are growing at the building foundation. Part III. Sources of Information Deming Headlight, Volume XXIV, No. XLIII, Friday June 16, p. 1. Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census. Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada, Charles McDuffie, 18 June Page No. 27. Lordsburg and Shakespeare, Grant County, Territory of New Mexico, June L. W. Lewis, Page No. 80. Precinct 20, Lordsburg, Grant County, New Mexico Thirteenth Census of the United States: Population, 16 April B.A. Copeland, Sheet 16A. Fort Worth City, Tarrant County, Texas, Thirteenth Census of the United States: Population, 19 April William L. Gibson, Sheet 4B.
Santa Cruz Township, Santa Cruz County, California, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 11 April Isobel Croft, Sheet 8A. El Paso Herald Wants More Education, Monday, August 12, p. 4. Playas Pleads for Goof Roads: Animas Lands to Be Opened For Entry; Lordsburg Wants High School, Tuesday, January 12, p. 12. Lordsburg is Growing Fast: School Trustees Let Contract for Erection of a Modern High School, Thursday, June 15, p. 12. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 27) Fox, Chris P., Password, The First Railroad Bridge Across the Rio Grande, The El Paso County Historical Society, Vol. No. 1, El Paso, Texas, Spring Hidalgo County Superintendent.
Annual Report of Superintendent of Hidalgo County, July 15, Annual Report County School Superintendent, Volume III: Guadalupe County, Harding County, Hidalgo County, Lea County, Lincoln County, Luna County, located at New Mexico State Records Center & Archives, Department of Education records, serial number Johnston Brothers, Plans and Specification for Small School Buildings. Santa Fe: Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jones, Fayette Alexander, C.E., E. M., New Mexico Mines and Minerals: World s Fair Edition. Santa Fe, New Mexico: The New Mexican Printing Company, Kasynski, William. The American Highway. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Meyer, Marian. A Century of Progress: History of the New Mexico School for the Deaf.
Santa Fe: New Mexico School for the Deaf, Murphey, John W., Application for Registration New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties, Old Lordsburg High School. Nanninga, Simon P. The New Mexico School System. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, No Author. Enrichment Center Analytical Report, provided by Randy Piper, Superintendent, Lordsburg Municipal Schools, via email 8 December no date. No Author. Enrichment Center Renovation, accessed December 12, North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Annual Report of the Lordsburg High School, located in the State of New Mexico Records Center & Archive, Department of Education Records, Box Folder 1. Raynor, Ted.
Southwest Folklore, Friday, December 5, news clipping from Lucien A, File papers, Inhabited Towns, Lordsburg Hidalgo County, New Mexico State Records Center & Archives. Robertson, Donald B., Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History: The Desert States. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 28) Sanborn Map, Sarber, Mary A., Handbook of Texas Online, Trost, Henry Charles, accessed November 22, Silver City Daily Press, Friday, May 3, p. 8. Simmons, Marc. Growing up a Girl in Territory, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Saturday, October 11, pp. The Lordsburg Liberal Library is Boosted, Volume XXXIIL, No. 32, Thursday, October 21, R.A. McLeskey, Value of a Public Library to a School, Volume XXXIV, No. 37, Thursday, December 1, p. 3. Resolutions of N.M.E.A.
Passed by Convention, Volume XXXIIL, No. 38, Thursday, December 2, p. 2. Resolutions on Commercial Course, Volume XXXIII, No. 39, Thursday, December 9, p. 2. School Notes, Volume XXXIV, No. 28, Thursday, September 29, Colgrove, P. T., Good Roads Are Great Factor, Volume XXXIV, No. 31, Thursday, October 20, p. 1. Lordsburg Schools Will Open Sept. 4 , Volume No. 24, Thursday, August 31, p. 1. School Notes, Volume No. 36, Thursday, October 12, p. 3. McLeskey, R.A., Lordsburg an Accredited High School, Volume XXXVI, No. 5, Thursday, April 19, p. 1. School Laws of the Last Legislature, Volume XXXVI, No. 7, Thursday, May 3, pp. 1 and 3. A New Teacher s Certificate Law, Volume XXXVI, No. 6, Thursday, April 26, p. 1. McLeskey, R.A., Schools to Open Tuesday Sept. Volume XXXVIII, No.
31, Thursday, August 14, p. 1. Lordsburg Schools Started Off Nicely, Volume XXXVIII, No. 34, Thursday September 4, p. 3. School s Organized, Faculty Complete, Volume XXXIX, No. 39, Thursday, August 19, p. 1. Lordsburg School Opens Sept. 7, Volume XXXIII, No. 41, Thursday, September 2, pp. 1 and 4. Johnson, Helen, School Notes, Volume XXXIX, No. 45, Thursday, September 30, p. 4. School Reports, Volume XL. No. 15, Thursday, March 2, p. 4. Vote for School Bonds and Make it Unanimous, Volume XL, No. 16, Thursday, March 10, p. 1. Proceedings of the Common Council, Volume XL, No. 17, Thursday, March 17, p. 4. Ownby, R. B. School Bond Issue to be Voted on April 8, Volume XL, No. 18, Thursday, March 24, p. 1. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No.
(page 29) Lordsburg School is on Accredited List, Volume XL, No. 19, Thursday, March 31, p. 1 Schools Bonds Carry More Than 24 to One, Volume XL, No. 21, Thursday, April 14, p. 1. Proceedings of the Common Council, Volume XL, No. 21, Thursday, April 14, pp. 1 and 4. Call for Bids on High School Building for Lordsburg School District No. 1, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, Volume XL, No. 22, Thursday, April 21, p. 3 Architect Trost is Pleased with Work, Volume XL, No. 33, Thursday, July 7, p. 1. Lordsburg Schools Open Sept. Sixth, Volume XL, No. 40. Thursday, September 1, p. 1. McEvoy Store advertisement, Volume XL, No. 43, Thursday, September 22, p. 4. New High School is a Credit to the State, Volume XL, No. 47, Thursday, October 20, p. 3. The Santa Fe New Mexican Volume 53, No.
Monday June 19, p. 5. Lordsburg, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, Volume 57, No. Sunday, September 5, p. 25. Van Citters, Karen, Mary Ragins, Robert Mallory. Historic Context and National Register Evaluation of New Mexico Department of Transportation Bridges. Santa Fe: New Mexico Department of Transportation, Wagner, Jonathan H. Report of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of New Mexico, for the Biennial Period Engineer November 20. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Western Liberal Lordsburg: Its Resources, Its Prospects, Its Men of Merit, Volume IX, No. 5, Friday, December 13, p. 1. Volume XII, No. 18, Friday, March 10, pp. 2 and 3. Volume XII, No. 31, Friday, June 9, p. 3. Volume XII, No. 35, Friday, July 7, p. 3; Volume XII, No. 40, Friday, August 11, p. 3. Volume XIV, No.
23, Friday, May 24, p. 3. Volume XIV, No. 44, Friday, September 13, p. 3. Volume XIV, No. 47, Friday, October 4, p. 2. Volume XV, No. 9, Friday, January 10, p. 2. Volume XV, No. 43, Friday, September 5, P. 3. Volume XVIII, No. 35, Friday, July 28, p. 3. Volume XVIII, No. 42, Friday, September 15, p. 3. Volume XVIII, No. 44, Friday September 29, p. 3. Volume XVIII, No. 51, Friday, November 17, p. 3. Volume XXIII, No. 16, Friday, March 11, p. 2. Volume No. 27, Friday, May 24, p. 3. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 30) Volume XXVI, No. 28, Friday, May 30, p. 3. Volume XXVI, No. 34, Friday, July 11, p. 2. Volume XXVI, No. 37, Friday, August 1, p. 3. High School for Lordsburg: More Room and Advanced Grades Needed at Local School, Boost for High School! Volume XXVIII, No.
5, Friday, December 18, p. 1. Volume XXVIII, No. 7, Friday, January 1, p. 5. High School Meeting Tonight, Volume XXVIII, No. 9, Friday, January 15, p. 1. Plans go Forward for High School, Volume XXVIII, No. 10, Friday, January 22, p. 1. No Action Taken for High School, Volume XXVIII, No. 14, Friday, February 19, p. 1. Volume XXVIII, No. 26, Friday, May 14, p. 4. Volume XXVIII, No. 35, Friday, July 16, p. 1. School Opens Monday, Volume XXIX, No. 43, Friday, September 15, p. 1. Lordsburg s New High School is Finished and Occupied, Volume No. 1, Friday, November 24, p. 1. Incorporation for Our Town s Good, Volume XXIX, No. 21, Friday, April 14, p. 1. Plans for High School Arrive, Volume XXIX, No. 25, Friday, May 19, pp. 1 and 4. Volume XXIX, No. 26, Friday, May 26, p. 1.
Bids to be Opened, Volume XXIX, No. 29, Friday, June 9, p. 1. Bids Wanted, Volume XXIX, No. 31, Friday June 23, p. 1. New High School Building Started, Volume XXIX, No. 36, July 28, p. 1. Public School Notes, Volume XXIX, No. 44, Friday, September 22, p. 1. Western Liberal Mining Review, Lordsburg Progress Volume No. 6, Friday, December 22, p. 11. Help from Parents Necessary For Success Says Supt. Gordy, Lordsburg Schools Open Sept 3, Volume No. 39, Friday, August 24, p. 1. School Opens Monday Sept. 3. Volume No. 40, Friday, August 31, p. 1. Building Activity in Lordsburg Gives Evidence of Prosperity and Town Growth, Volume XXXI, No. 11, Friday, February 22, p. 1. Western New Mexico University. History of Western New Mexico University, accessed reference to original school catalog.
Wiley, Tom. Public School Education in New Mexico. Albuquerque: Division of Government Research, The University of New Mexico Printing Plant, Withey, Henry F., AIA, Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architect (Deceased). Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 31) ILLUSTRATED APPENDIX A. Historic Images Figure 1. Original stone schoolhouse (right) and the Primary Building (left), circa This is on the block to the east of the site where the high school was constructed one year later. Source: Lordsburg Chamber of Commerce. Figure 2. Trost & Trost watercolor showing addition. Source: Lordsburg Chamber of Commerce. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 32) Figure 3.
Lordsburg High School shortly after construction in Source: Lordsburg Chamber of Commerce. Figure 4. Lordsburg high school, shortly after the Trost & Trost addition in Source: Lordsburg Chamber of Commerce. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 33) Figure 5. First floor plan, drawn Source: Lordsburg Municipal Schools. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 34) Figure 6. Ground floor plan, drawn Source: Lordsburg Municipal Schools. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 35) B. Color Photographs All color digital photographs were taken by Martin Stupich, February Figure 7. Fa ade oblique. Figure 8. Front oblique. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 36) Figure 9. Fa ade entry. Figure 10. Front stair detail. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 37) Figure 11.
Brick joint detail on east fa ade, north end. Figure 12. Brick joint detail on east fa ade, south end. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 38) Figure 13. East side fa ade, south end. Figure 14. East side north dentil and quoin. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 39) Figure 15. Oblique southwest to northeast. Figure 16. West elevation. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 40) Figure 17. Gym north side. Figure 18. North wing. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 41) Figure 19. North elevation. Figure 20. North end gable. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 42) Figure 21. Canale detail. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 43) Figure 22. Downspout west side south end. LORDSBURG HIGH SCHOOL HABS No. (page 44) Figure 23. WPA stamp in concrete sidewalk.
Block