Figuring out Lebanon

Lebanon, Colo., North of Cortez, Colo. photo taken 1920 to 1929. Two men stand near a wood frame house under construction while another sits in a horse-drawn carriage (surrey) with a fringe on the top in Lebanon (Montezuma County), Colorado. Also, women sit on the porch of the Parker Hotel and a man drives a horse-drawn wagon down the street. Shows telegraph poles, and a ditch with water.
Colorado Historical Society, Denver and Rio Grande collection

School, community survives long after founding company collapses

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 When I was a youngster, (four or five years old) the neighbor across the street from our home in Dolores on Hillside Avenue would allow me to ride with him on the Montezuma County "maintainer" out in the area known as Lebanon, as my mom picked fruit out near the "apple shed."   I always had a little trouble figuring out what Lebanon was. A town, a farm, school district, a maintenance route? And what were the boundaries? Eventually, I just came to know it as the area between Dolores and Cortez with an old school that no students go to anymore, with the possible exception of special meetings and events.

Built in the dense setting of Cedars — as was the Biblical Lebanon — in the shadow of Sleeping Ute Mountain,  the village was originally named by the Railway Building & Loan Company of Pueblo, in 1908, according to property records in the county.

United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service noted the significance of the school building in the National Register of Historic Places continuation sheet and identified the Lebanon School as being eligible for the National Register under Criterion A in the two areas of education, and recreation and entertainment. 

"The school served as the second and last educational facility in the Lebanon community from its construction in 1908 until its closure in 1963. It is the best resource capable of conveying the community's important efforts to educate its children. Beyond its educational function, the school building served as the center of community recreational activities as the location of numerous plays, musicals, dinners, club meetings and other social gatherings. The Lebanon School is also eligible under Criterion C for its architectural significance as an important and rare example of Classical Revival styling adapted to a rural school." 

Lebanon had its beginnings in the 1890s as an agricultural community based on fruit production, grain farming and cattle ranching. A school district was formed in 1896 and classes were held a small building south of the existing Lebanon School. By 1908 the Colorado Land and Improvement Co. was organized by a group of investors and perspective landowners in Pueblo and Trinidad to develop the Lebanon area. 

"The company immediately began to plan improvements for the infant community, sold town and rural plots, plowed roads and strung telephone lines, and advertised the area as being ideal for orchards. New property owners cleared land, put out ten acre tracts to orchards, and began
farming. In July of 1908 a 16-room hotel opened and newspaper reports noted that the new up-to-date schoolhouse was expected to be completed by the fall. During the summer a number of individuals bought property in the Lebanon area while current residents worked to improve their holdings. Work progressed on a bank and office building. W.E. Miller, president of the land company, filed the town plat on August 8, 1908, " says the paperwork submitted for historic designation.

"The company soon went into insolvency and all assets were sold to satisfy creditors. The community hung on and the area became highly regarded for its fruit, in part the result of its regular ability to avoid frost and hail damage."

According to the designation application, "The original school may have been destroyed by a fire or perhaps simply proved inadequate for the anticipated growth. During the summer of 1908 the eastern portion of the current Lebanon School building was constructed. The new school opened in the fall with 25 pupils in attendance under the care of teacher Mable Sater, recently of Union Town, Iowa. Grades 1 through 8 were taught. The January 1, 1909 edition of the Dolores Star reported that Sater passed the teachers examination the previous week in Cortez and secured a teaching certificate."

"School population increased significantly by the following year. New teacher Edna Duncan reported an enrollment of 35 pupils. Some rumblings were already being heard about the need for a larger school building.
The schoolhouse continued to serve the community well, but swelling enrollments necessitated an expansion before the end of its first decade of operation. An addition off the west side in 1916 doubled the size of the original classroom. First through fourth grade students used the original
classroom, called the "little room," while the fifth through eight grade students occupied the new classroom, called the "big room."