Cantril School important fixture

Cantril School key events

1874

John Craig and Jeremiah Gould sold lots for the new Town settlement. Land and $3,000 was set aside for a school on Schoolhouse Hill.

1875

Two-story wood-framed schoolhouse built. A barbed-wire fence enclosed the property to keep out livestock that freely roamed the area.

1881

Castle Rock becomes an incorporated Town. Bell cast for bell tower.

1885

Became the first school in the County to offer high school curriculum, the highest level of education available here at the time. The program was expensive, and students who didn’t live in Town were required to pay $1 a month for tuition.

1896

November: Woodframed school building burned to the ground, due reportedly to a defective chimney flue.

1897

Sept. 6: New stone two-story school opens for classes.

Cantril School, perched atop Schoolhouse Hill on Cantril Street between Third and Fourth streets, is arguably the most architecturally significant historic building in Castle Rock.

Known as Castle Rock School or Castle Rock Elementary until the mid-1900s, the school is named for the street on which the building sits and for the Cantril family, who were early homesteaders and owned a sawmill nearby. The ornate stone structure was built after the original wood-framed, two-story schoolhouse burned down in November 1896 (in part because firefighters at the time didn’t have a hose long enough to put it out!).

1900s

1903

Feb. 6: Fire damages school when poorly constructed flue overheats and sets fire. A bucket brigade jumps into action, saving the structure from destruction when the volunteer fire department’s frozen hose is rendered useless.

1870s

After the fire, an election was held to raise the funds for the new school. Robert Roeschlaub, Colorado’s first licensed architect, consulted with the Castle Rock School Board on the project. They chose a design by architect William Quayle with a robust stone construction, Roman arches, ornate scrolled cornices and a bell tower.

On the same site as the original wooden structure, the two-story, six-room school was constructed for $7,775 using pink and tan rhyolite mined from the local Silas Madge quarry, which is now part of Rhyolite Regional Park. The sturdy structure served to present a sense of longevity and

1900-1910

1920s

1912

Douglas County High School constructed in the 600 block of Wilcox Street. Cantril School hosts first through eighth grades.

One-story Cantril