Montrose - Daily Press

Marilyn Cox

A Step Back In Time

Over the weekend, I ran into LaVelle (Collins) Corey, who asked if I had ever heard of the ULS Hall in the Uncompahgre area. She remembered her mother talking about it and wanted to know more.

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The first I knew of the ULS was from the late Pink and Ruby Sanburg when we took a drive together south of town. They pointed out the location on a corner, under a big cottonwood tree. The ULS stood for Uncompahgre Literary Society and the old wooden building, now long gone, served for many years as a community hall.

Again, on a drive to check out the location of the former Jutten School house with Marjorie Topliss Cole, she, too, showed me where the hall used to sit and recalled that her dad taught her mother how to dance there.

Another little lady, the late Susie Osborne, could hold bragging rights about dancing at the ULS Hall with the boy who later became heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Jack Dempsey. The Dempsey family lived in the Uncompahgre area where the father was a sharecropper.

Susie said, “Of course I danced with him. Jack was a good dancer. We did the Schottische. You know what that is? It’s kind of like the polka.”

She said that for fun, families of the Colona and Uncompahgre area looked forward to the dances held at the hall which was used for book reviews, debates, spelling bees and all types of social gatherings.

Like most country gathering places, liquor was not allowed inside the building, but that didn’t stop them from having their stash out in their saddle bags or wagons. Throughout the evening, men would go outside to “get some fresh air” and have a swig or two. By the end of the night they were either pretty happy, or rather aggressive. At any rate, there were many good times at the ULS Hall.

Does anyone in the community happen to have a photo of this long-gone historic building? If so, please let me know. Since there are very few left who would even recall the existence of this building, it would be good to hear more stories that have been passed down in families.

I just realized that I haven’t written anything on the Uncompahgre School House which is now the Uncompahgre Bed and Breakfast, located at 21049 Uncompahgre Road. This was not the original school, but it was the last to be used.

The first school in the area was the Jutten School, established in the 1890’s, as school district #17. This school district combined with District 21 in 1898. A new school was built of local reddish-brown brick, originally one large room for all eight grades. A wide stone path to the door welcomed the students until 1915 when a new building was completed. The little red brick building became the Uncompahgre Methodist Church.

The newspaper of the day described the new Uncompahgre School House as being one of the “prettiest schools in the country, if not in the state.” It was built on the cottage plan with four rooms, an assembly room and a basement for manual training. Designed by Montrose architect, J. H. Antrobus, with Ash Brothers and Hersum of Olathe as contractors, it was built of Buckley pressed bricks. Construction workers boarded at the nearby Blankenship home.

Unfortunately, students occupied the building for just three weeks before a tragic fire on January 25, 1915, reduced it to a charred ruins. The fire was discovered that Saturday morning by Blankenship on his way to the Fenlon store. The insurance of $6,300 would allow another building to be erected. In the meantime, residents of the area hastily constructed a temporary building for students to finish the term. They only missed one week of school. The class of 1915 graduated from the Methodist Church, the former schoolhouse.

The present Uncompahgre School building, although in a different location, was also built of Buckley brick, with Antrobus once again the architect. The land, purchased for $200, had been a part of the 160 acre John A. Masters ranch. School opened here the fall of 1916 as School District #29. The Uncompahgre branch of Montrose County High School was held here until the year 1918.

The elementary school continued for many years. More about that in future columns.

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