13/10/2024
Some interesting history along the byway.
Schoolhouse: Stoneham School.
Where: The Stoneham School is located immediately south of Colorado 14 and east of Raymer.
The small prairie town of Stoneham retains its school and gymnasium.
The buildings are pristine — restored and preserved. The town, however, got off to a rough start and its history is among the strangest in Colorado.
The land was originally purchased in 1888 by Eleanor B. Stone from the United States government for use as a town site. She paid $200.23 and the warranty deed was signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
Just four months later, Stone cleverly sold the town site to the Lincoln Land Co., for $1,600 netting her a tidy profit. The Lincoln Land Co. was a real estate developer operating in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.
The developer surveyed the site and its blocks were defined by oak stakes. The streets were given names of rocks — marble, flint, granite, boulder and slate.
No school was constructed at Stoneham and little else was done in the way of developing a town.
In 1893, the United States went into a recession, and the land company apparently saw little future in Stoneham. They filed to vacate the property thus withdrawing it as a town site. The entire site was sold for $8.04 in back taxes the following year.
In 1907, using the same street system and same street names, New Stoneham was founded. This time the town flourished and many of the empty lots were filled with homes and businesses.
School age children originally attended classes on the second floor of the feed and grain building.
A proper frame school was constructed in 1912, and it doubled as a community church.
By 1928, there were numerous one-room schools spread out in this part of Eastern Colorado and they were consolidated into the Stoneham School. Some of the school buildings were moved to Stoneham and used to expand the existing school.
In 1965 with dwindling population, the Stoneham School closed.
All of the area schools were consolidated into the Prairie School eight miles to the west.
Kenneth Jessen has been a Loveland resident since 1965. He is an author of 20 books and more than 1,600 articles. He served on several Loveland boards and was an engineer for Hewlett-Packard for 33 years.
