New Liberty School, Mesa County, Colorado 1919 1960 New Liberty Mesa Colorado USA The New Liberty area drew homesteaders after the completion of the Highline Canal allowed irrigated farming in the area west and north of Mack. The first homesteaders arrived in 1918. Upon agreement with the Mack School District 44 to administer the school, land for a school building was deeded by Joseph P. Kiefer in December 1918. The school was built in 1919. According to Marjorie (Morrow) Thomas, who moved to New Liberty in 1919 and was a student there, it was a one room school house. The school was 20 feet by 24 feet. The desks were not fastened to the floor, allowing them to be moved so that parties, suppers, and other events could take place there. The school opened with 27 students. The school had one teacher, Bonnie O’Bryan, that taught all eight grades from 1920-1925. In 1925, a movable partition was used to divide the school house into two rooms and two teachers were hired. Teachers and students got water from the irrigation ditch until a cistern was built in 1920. High school students went to Fruita Union High School. In 1922, the newly created New Liberty School District 37 took over the administration of the school. The school was expanded over the years and more teachers hired until a new building was deemed necessary. According to Thomas, the second school building was built around 1935. The WPA constructed the building from adobe blocks that were made from dirt on the school grounds. It was a larger building with a classroom in which the desks were fastened to the floor, a kitchen, and an auditorium/gymnasium for school and community social functions. The new school also had two teachers that split the eight grades. The school had an auditorium. The school served as a community center. It hosted a Sunday school for twenty-one years. It also held local dances. With the consolidation of school districts in 1951, the school became part of Mesa County Valley School District 51. In 1953, the Mack School closed and those students came to New Liberty. New Liberty closed in 1960 and students and staff were sent to the Loma School. *Some information comes from In the Beginning… A history of the districts and schools that became Mesa County Valley School District 51 by Albert and Terry LaSalle yes yes