As a little girl from a small country school, Vivienne Kenyon found the two-story Calkins School Building in Cortez an imposing structure when she first attended in 1934.
“The building seemed so large to me,” she said.
A third grader at the time, Kenyon recalls studying art, music, math, reading and health from a first-floor classroom at the Calkins School. She and her classmates only got to go upstairs when visiting the library. And recess, complete with a playground, was truly a novel experience.
“I had never seen a slippery slide before,” Kenyon said. “It was all new to me.”
Nearly 70 years later, Kenyon’s nostalgia about the school led her on an effort in 2001 to help preserve the Calkins Building. She helped secure a grant from the Colorado Historical Society with hopes of restoring the structure to become a museum.
“It’s a fine old building,” she said. “It’s long lasting and durable.”
The museum never happened and the building currently sits empty, but Kenyon was pleased to learn that the Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 board voted unanimously earlier this week to officially nominate the Calkins Building be listed as one of the state’s most endangered places. If approved, the measure would give the building added exposure to outside investors, said Linda Towle, director of the Cortez Historic Preservation Board.
“The building is all boarded up, and we are very concerned about its future,” she said. “Another $4 to $5 million is needed to complete the restoration.”
By listing the Calkins Building as one of Colorado’s Most Endangered Places, Towle said the former school would receive additional exposure, possibly helping to entice an outside developer to move on the building.
“It’s going to start falling a part,” superintendent Alex Carter told board members Wednesday. “It’s an important building in the community, and I don’t see any downfall for us.”
Towle reassured board members at their meeting that nominating the historic structure to the state’s endangered places list would not obligate taxpayers for any added expenses in the future. The annual listing receives approximately three dozen nominations, and usually a handful of structures are ultimately approved, she added.
“I can’t promise anyone will show up to buy the building, but it does alert developers that it’s here,” Towle told school officials.
School board treasurer Brian Demby said the Calkins Building has prime real estate development potential, pointing out the grounds itself may be more enticing to developers than the building.
“The building takes the shine off the apple,” he said metaphorically, “but there’s a lot of apple there on site.”
The deadline to nominate the Calkins Building to the 2014 Colorado Most Endangered Places list is Aug. 16.
“The city, county and the hospital have all expressed interest in the past, but I think an outside developer will be the one to help save the building,” Towle said.
The school district currently owns the Calkins Building, which underwent a second phase of construction in 2011 to remodel the structure for administrative purposes. The renovation project was later shelved due to lack of funding, with officials estimating at the time that an additional $2.5 million was needed to completely refurbish the structure.
The Calkins Building served as the Cortez schoolhouse from its construction in 1909 until 1947. Junior-high students attended the school through the 1966-’67 school year. Last used for school administrative offices until evacuated in 2008, the building is currently listed on the Cortez City Register of Historic Structures, Sites and Districts.
Swedish immigrant Peter Baxstrom constructed the Calkins Building in 1909. During the influenza epidemic of 1918, Dr. Royal W. Calkins, a local physician and former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives for whom the building is named, was credited with saving 462 lives.
Nearly a century later, Kenyon is hopeful the historic building will now be saved. She and her husband, Phillip, both have fond memories of the structure. He was a year ahead of her when they both attended the Calkins School.
“I didn’t pay much attention to him when I was in grade school,” Kenyon said, “but we will celebrate our 66th wedding anniversary this year.”
tbaker@cortezjournal.com
