Hunter School, Mesa County, Colorado 1895 1959 NE corner of J and 21 Road Mesa Colorado USA https://www.google.com/maps/dir/21+Rd,+Colorado/J+Rd,+Colorado/@39.1498408,-108.66579,17z/am=t/data=!4m17!4m16!1m5!1m1!1s0x8746f Google Map link for 21 and J Road, Fruita, Colorado The first Hunter School was built in 1895 at 21 and J 1/2 Roads. It was administered by Hunter School District 25, which also formed in 1895. Grades 1-8 attended the school. Bessie Hunter, who had graduated from Grand Junction High School and passed the teacher certification test, was the teacher. James "J.B." Baker Hunter was the first school board president, and though the Hunter School District board voted to name the school "New Hope," it was always known as the Hunter School. In 1906, the school was moved to J and 21 Roads. The school stood across from an agricultural loading station for the Interurban Railroad, and workers would throw apples to the students. The school had two teachers in 1918. Cordelia (Hamilton) Files taught grades 1-4 and Miss Davis taught grades 5-8. Files recalls that the school had 42 pupils in the lower grades at that time, with 37 in the higher grades. A basement was added to the building in 1936, and a furnace to heat the school. After the school merged with Mesa County School District Number 51, indoor plumbing was added to the building. When Fruita Junior High opened in 1955, 7th and 8th grade students went there. In 1957, 5th and 6th grade students began attending Fruita Elementary School. The Hunter School was closed in 1959, and later torn down. *Some information for this description was taken from In the Beginning... A History of the Districts and Schools that became Mesa County Valley School District Number 51 by Albert and Terry LaSalle. **Photograph of the Hunter School from an 1895 edition of the Fruita Times. yes yes