Colusa school sees its last days

Ryan Boston operates a backhoe bucket to knock down the chimney on the old school building in Colusa. Parts of the building had begun to collapse and the owner, West Central FS decided it was time to tear down the entire building.

This time of year, most schools are being fixed up and readied for students to return. In Colusa, a long unused school building is seeing its last days.

The Colusa School, which was built in 1911, is being razed this fall by the Boston Brothers for its owner, West Central FS.

The school has not housed students since 1968, according to Mardene Derry of Colusa, who has lived much of the history of the school.

Her mother was in the second class that attended the school. It offered eight years of elementary grades, and a four-year high school. The class of 1913 was the first high school graduating class with three members, according to Colusa School history provided by Jayne Eckhardt.

“Some of the neighboring towns, Ferris and Burnside, only had three-year high schools, so some kids from those areas came here,” Derry said.”

Her father, Walter Dorsett was superintendent for the school in the 1920s. Derry attended all of her 12 years elementary and high school in that building, graduating in 1942. Later she taught junior high English and social studies in the building.

“The school was used even after the consolidation that made Nauvoo-Colusa,” Derry said. The last high school graduating class from Colusa in 1960 had five seniors.

“When the new high school was built in 1960, there was still a grade school at Nauvoo and another here at Colusa. I went with the junior high kids when they moved out of that (Colusa) school to the new high school in 1968.”

Derry continued to teach another 17 years before retiring in 1985.

A gym was added to the school in 1928. Another addition was joined to the north part of the building in 1947. In 1950 another building was added with a band room, boiler room, classrooms and offices, ag shop and bus barn.

“That was built of materials from Camp Ellis,” Derry said. “It is a landmark building. I hate to see it go.”

Derry, Eckhardt and others in the area take part in a Colusa School reunion that was originally held every five years, and now happens every three years. The next reunion will be Sept. 20 this fall.

The buildings and site were sold to Hancock Service Company (now West Central FS) in June of 1977. West Central FS contracted the Bostons to tear down the building. The added gymnasium is now a pile of rubble, and Ryan Boston knocked down the tall brick chimney Monday.

“The old structure is the most solid. It is made of solid brick with just a veneer on the inside walls,” Boston said. “The gym addition just had brick on the outside.”

They have removed the windows so there will not be glass among the rubble as the remaining building comes down. Boston said he may set out a pallet of bricks from the building for people who want to have some type of souvenir from the building.

“It is time for the building to come down. People have come in here and taken copper wiring and strips of woodwork,” he said. “It gets to be a dangerous temptation.”