1938 school added to historic register

FALLON -- The Cottage School, made up of three buildings that look like cottages built in Churchill County in 1938, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Terri McBride, an archaeologist with the State Historic Preservation Office, said the site now has some protection from being demolished or changed.

An Elko contracting firm built the school for $47,719 on a site that was once the location of Smith Valley High School, according to documents from the Churchill County Museum. It was designed to house first, second and third grades.

Each of the three buildings was a different color -- yellow, pink or green.

Bonnie York was a first-grader at the school and later taught music to the kindergarten students every Friday for six years. When she was a student at the school in 1942, there were no kindergarten students there, but her daughter attended the same school as a kindergartner in 1970.

"Nothing had changed," she said of the 70-year-old school. "I can remember what it looked like when I was in the first grade, and it looked the same."

Donna Dericco taught at the school for 35 years, retiring in 1993. She said there were six teachers at the school, two in each cottage.

"Everything was geared toward 5-year-olds," she said. "It was the greatest place to teach."

School board member Lou Buckmaster's wife, Janice, worked at the location for several years as a kindergarten teacher and their children attended school there.

Kathy Buckmaster, who attended the school in 1973, said she did not realize the school could be placed on the registry.

The drinking fountains built in the 1930s were still in use when Buckmaster was a student there.

"It makes me happy. I know my mom really loved the school. My mom loved teaching there," she said.