LOOK: Back to school in 1873
View of the Arapahoe School in Denver, Colorado; people crowd the yard and entry steps. (Denver Public Library/Western History Collection/X-28315)
All the kiddos in Denver Public Schools are back at their pencils. We went back to school this week too. Way, way, way back. Back to the city’s first high school, the Arapahoe School, which opened on Arapahoe between 17th and 18th in 1873.
According to East High School’s website, which claims EHS is a descendant of this early institution, the Arapahoe School cost $51,695. It was sold nine years later for a whopping $165 grand. East High today is the home of the Arapahoe School’s bell which used to beckon kids to class.
The old Arapahoe School bell on the south lawn of East High School. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
The site of this first brick and mortar high school is now Skyline Park near the Daniels & Fisher clocktower.