Mesa School House
At a Glance
Date Built: 1916
Restoration Start Date: 1999
Status: 2000 Complete
The History
The Mesa Schoolhouse was built in 1916 by local master builder Art Gumprecht. It served as a school continuously until 1959 when the state required all rural school districts to consolidate. The property was then sold to a private party. For several years the schoolhouse was a weekend ski retreat for the out of town owners, but by 1998, the building had been neglected and vandalized.
The Project
The Mesa Schoolhouse was one of Historic Routt County’s early projects as a nonprofit preservation organization. Not only did the effort entail rehabilitation of the abandoned building, but negotiating with the private owners to purchase the property, partnering with the City of Steamboat Springs to accept the building for public use after its restoration, working with Routt County to secure the necessary building permits, addressing the requirements of CDOT to access the property from Highway 40, and meeting current water and sewer regulations.
Individuals, businesses, government entities, and grantors rallied to support the project with generous donations and hundreds of hours of volunteer time. In May of 2000, Historic Routt County gave the keys of the fully rehabilitated Mesa Schoolhouse to the City of Steamboat Springs in celebration of the City’s Centennial.
