Sargent Consolidated School District
Rio Grande County
The school district is comprised of 14 buildings, seven of which were constructed between 1917 and 1921. The two largest are the 1917 elementary school and the 1921 high school, both designed by the prominent architect John J. Huddart. These brick buildings have grown in size with numerous additions. For example, a 1937 gymnasium, once a separate building, is now part of the high school.
Sargent Consolidated School District (2005 photograph.)
This district is unusual as it was designed to be a complete facility, a "plant that contained every branch of school work." In addition to the two schools, the complex includes several bungalows that originally served as men’s and women’s teacherages, a superintendent’s house, and a duplex for the families of the janitor and the bus mechanic. Serving a 100-square-mile area, this group of buildings reflects the spread and influence of formal education on the development of rural communities.