One citizen's view of Longmont, Colorado, USA.
Pleasant View Ridge was started when J. W. Ward settled in the area, in 1880.
One description of Pleasant View Ridge can be found on page 251 of the book "They Came To Stay" (1971) by the St. Vrain Historical Association. In addition to the school, this community had a church, a cemetery, a railroad station on the Longmont/Louisville line, a general store, and a blacksmith shop. As the community started to wind down, the church was moved to Erie in 1925, and the most of the remains in the cemetery were relocated to Longmont's Mountain View Cemetery.
The book above says that this school house (standing today) was built in 1908 after the previous Pleasant View Ridge school (called the "Ward School") was torn down. I'm wondering why the stone says "1899" on the school building today? (You may have to click on the picture below to see the date clearly). Perhaps it was moved from the Ward School?
Approaching from the west on Oxford Road, a clustering of trees shows the general location of the former Pleasant View Ridge community.
5 comments:
Thank you for this information! I live in the area and have long been curious about the schoolhouse. The cemetery is actually still there as well. It is right across County Line Road on Oxford, but is on private land. There are photos of it here: http://centennialstate.coloradodar.org/pleasantview/pleasantview.html
My grandparents farmed on the corner diagonally across from the school and my mom and aunt attended school there. The cemetery was on their property, from what I understand. Their farmhouse was torn down several years ago, sadly.
My father said he lived on the property with the graveyard as a child. I believe his family worked there or something. He said they had an outhouse and he was scared to go to the bathroom at night because it was right next to the graveyard.
We just purchased the property on the opposite corner from the schoolhouse and intend to build a traditional farm house and a large timber frame barn. Should be finished by late 2021. We hope it will fit in well and hope it will add some more character back to this little forgotten corner. Ellen Cara's school house studio is charming, but it needs some company :-)
My Great-Great Grand Mother Ellen Voake was buried there in 1900. Her grave was moved to Longmont years later. Todd Jacobson
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