Saturday, September 6, 2008

San Antonio School celebrates 80 years

A look at Socorro County's rural schools

Paul Harden For El Defensor Chieftain, na5n@zianet.com

This year marks the 80th birthday for the San Antonio Elementary School. This is an historically significant event for both Socorro County and the State of New Mexico. Built in 1928, the San Antonio School remains one of the oldest, continuously used schoolhouses in the state. Generations of school children have learned their "3 R's" in this San Antonio landmark. And, they still are.

It is only appropriate to look at the history of the San Antonio school on their 80th birthday, along with some of the other rural schools of Socorro County.

San Antonio School

- 80 years

It is very unusual for a school building to be used longer than 50 years, never mind 80. Looking back to the first class at San Antonio School, in 1928, it seems a long time ago.

Calvin Coolidge was president, and 13 other U. S. presidents have since served. The IX Olympic Games were being held in Amsterdam, Holland; Johnny Weissmuller won two gold medals for swimming — and went on to play Tarzan in a dozen movies. The year before, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane with his historic flight onboard the "Spirit of St. Louis."

Famous movie stars were Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Buster Keaton. The year's most popular songs were "Puttin' On The Ritz," by Irving Berlin, and Rudy Vallee's "Sweet Lorraine."

For many of us, these things are well before our time.

The first students at San Antonio School listened to "Puttin' On The Ritz" on a Victorola record player or an RCA radio in a big mahogony case. Television was yet to be invented. Today, it's an MP3 player and a cell phone for our students.

Imagine the changes seen by San Antonio School and her students over the past 80 years — and for the teachers as well. One can see why our school administrators and teachers are constantly revising school cirriculum and teaching aids to keep up with such changes.

Inquiries to the New Mexico Public Education Department failed to reveal much school history. They could not identify New Mexico's oldest operating school, but agreed that 80-year-old San Antonio Elementary School certainly is "one of the oldest."

Further research finds Lake Arthur Elementary School (south of Roswell) claims to be the oldest, being in continuous use since 1906. According to the Albuquerque Public Schools Web site, the oldest schools in Albuquerque are 1940s-built Highlands High School and the Reginald Chavez Elementary School. San Antonio Elementary School is at least a dozen or more years older than than Albuquerque's oldest.

All the students, parents, and teaching staff of San Antonio Elementary School have a right to be proud of their school. It has survived and continues to serve far longer than most.

Today, 80 years of pride continues with Principal John Ray Dennis, himself a teacher at San Antonio Elementary for 14 years. Other teachers and staff have served the students of San Antonio for up to 32 years! They have a long and strong lineage.

San Antonio Elementary is part of the Socorro Consolidatated Schools. This wasn't always the case. Prior to 1953, San Antonio was an independent school district.

Early New Mexico Schools

During the days of Spanish and Mexican rule, from the 1600s through the mid-1800s, education in New Mexico was virtually nonexistent. In many communities, the church or individual priests and friars conducted school, although primarily for religious training. Most New Mexicans remained uneducated except for those that could afford to attend the schools in the Mexican towns of Chihuahua, Durango or Mexico City.

One example of this era comes from the pen of Rafael Chacon, whose memoirs are published in the book "Legacy of Honor." Chacon was born in 1833, in Santa Fe. In 1841, at age 7, he was placed in the Santa Fe Beginner's School. Having failed to learn even the alphabet, Chacon was moved to a school taught by Don Serafin Ramirez and later, to a school named Teacher Pacheco.

In the latter school, the Catón was taught — the manual of politeness, morals, good manners and etiquette. Additional instruction allowed the students to recite by heart the Catechism and the Latin texts, although without knowing their meaning, or learning to read or write.

For most New Mexicans, this was the extent of their formal education.

Rafael Chacon was more fortunate than most. His father, Don Albino Chacon, was a secretary to New Mexico Gov. Manual Armijo and a judge of the court. In these positions, the Chacon family was fairly "well to do."

Rafael's influential father obtained an appointment for his 11-year-old son as a military cadet. Rafael wrote of the event, "On the eleventh day of March 1844, by order of General Armijo, the cadets from New Mexico started for Chihuahua, so that from that point, on the first opportune moment, they might go to Capultepec (near Mexico City), the Normal Military School of the Republic. I was the youngest of the cadets."

One can only imagine sending an 11-year-old boy today on a supply caravan to spend 40 days along the treacherous El Camino Real, just to reach the schools in distant Chihuahua.

Young Rafael received a good education at Chihuahhua. He learned to be proficient in reading and writing in the Spanish language, along with arithmetic and other skills. However, it came at quite a cost. Being very young and far from home, he was quickly relieved of his money and clothes by the older cadets. Rafael worked odd jobs just to eat and have a place to sleep while attending school.

Education for hundreds of New Mexican students ceased in 1846. They were ordered to return to Santa Fe in preparation for the invasion by the Americans. Chacon, like all the other young cadets, was ordered to join the militia at Glorietta Pass to confront the Americans.

On Aug. 14, 1846, nearly 2,000 American troops were seen on their approach to Santa Fe. Gen. Armijo, having realized his force — including the many young cadets — would suffer huge casualties, disbanded the militia. The following day, Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny peacefully occupied Santa Fe and declared New Mexico a Territory of the United States.

Territorial Education

After the arrival of the Americans, the educational opportunities available to hundreds of young New Mexicans came to an end. Their well-to-do fathers, employed by the Republic of Mexico, were suddenly unemployed. Many failed to give allegience to the United States and were not hired by the new government. The Chacon family, for example, moved to Mora to begin a foreign life as farmers and ranchers. Most prosperous families of the Mexican reign would never regain a position of wealth and prominence, or the opportunity to see their children receive an education.

On the otherhand, most New Mexican families did give their allegience to the United States. Many were given jobs with the new government. In Socorro, many families provided food, hay or other items to the U.S. Army at Fort Conrad, and later to Fort Craig.

The tables had been turned. Many of the formerly poor New Mexico families had risen to some measure of prosperity. They were now the ones able to send their children to schools.

However, the age old problem continued: education remained available primarily only to those who could afford it. For the rest, education was only a dream. It was not the public education system we know today.

It was not until 1872 that Territorial law created a Superintendent for Public Schools. However, limited funding placed the majority of the financial burden of building schools and hiring teachers with the local communities. The law did pay for a portion of teachers' wages. This opened an opportunity for the smaller towns throughout the state, including those in Socorro County, to develop rural schools.

Rural Education

The rural areas of Socorro County quickly established schools. At first, these were inside someone's home, or an unused building or barn. Teachers were hired, often provided with a home to live in to supplement the poor wages offered by the Territory. It quickly became a tradition for the families to take turns inviting the school teacher to dinner to ensure he or she was well fed. These early rural schools were clearly a community affair. The teacher was often a prominent citizen of the community. In short, they would do whatever was needed to keep their teacher happy and educating their children.

For example, the first school in Rosedale was conducted in the mine supervisor's shack. Later, a school was built. At Carthage, the second floor in the coal mining office was the school house. The same room was used for mass when the Padre came to town. In San Antonio, an abandoned railroad coal shed was quickly renovated to serve as the first public school. Every town in Socorro County has a similar story.

Also in 1872, the Territorial Education Association was formed, which after statehood became the New Mexico Education Association. The TEA made numerous attempts to enact a public education bill from 1876 through the 1880s. Finally, the bill was passed, in 1891, that established a Superintendent of Territorial Education, a normal school to prepare teachers and equal rights for women in school affairs.

Equally important, the bill allowed 25 percent of property taxes, and $1 per person, to be used by the counties to support education. The Socorro County Commission established the Socorro County Board of Education to begin dispursing these funds to build up Socorro's rural schools.

Unfortunately, records could not be found as to how these funds were dispersed or the order in which schools were built. It is known that the County of Socorro built schools in just about every town along the Rio Grande from San Marcial to San Acacia. Farther to the west, schools were built in Magdalena, Riley, Reserve and Mogollon, to name a few. Socorro County took an early lead in the state in providing public education to its children. This was an enormous task since Socorro County, although it had a relatively small population, had dozens of small towns along the Rio Grande and throughout the county.

In the 1890s, Socorro, San Marcial and San Antonio were the lucky towns. They had fairly large populations, plenty of commerce (to collect taxes) and each had a bank. This allowed these towns to issue school bonds to raise money to build their first official public schools.

The other towns had to wait their turn for their schools to be funded by the Socorro County Board of Education. With the limited property tax money available for education each year, it was the blood, sweat and tears of the townspeople that helped build many of these rural schools.

The San Antonio School

San Antonio's first public schoolhouse was built around 1897, on the Camino Real, a short distance north of the old business district. This is confirmed by a fragmented statement, "the old schoolhouse had been used for over 30 years" in a 1928 Socorro Chieftain article.

This first schoolhouse was a substantial building compared to other community-built schools of the time. It was a large, single-room adobe schoolhouse, 30-by-60 feet, with a pitched roof and numerous tall windows for lighting. A few years later, an extention was added, which served as a small theater. Although this school served students of all grades, a respectable goal for most was to complete the third grade.

San Antonio's first school building still stands. It is located about two blocks south of the Catholic Church on Highway 1. Now owned by Raymond Vandervoort, the 111-year-old building is now used as a barn.

There are no surviving records to tell us who the teachers and students might have been. Although, we do know a couple of them. Oral history claims Conrad Hilton was one of the students. When I mentioned this to Mr. Vandervoort, he took me into his barn and pointed out where young Conrad had whittled his name into the old plaster wall. It clearly reads "C. Hilton 1903." There are numerous other names carved into the walls as well.

We also know one of the early 1900s teachers and principal was Anastacio "A.C." Torres. In 1904, while teaching the third grade in San Antonio, he bought a small newspaper and moved it to Socorro. Armed with a printing press and his mastery of both Spanish and English, he published the first edition of of Socorro's bilingual newspaper, "El Defensor," on May 7, 1904. A year later, he resigned as a teacher at San Antonio to run his newspaper full time — which he did for the following 55 years. In 1957, at age 89, he merged it with the Socorro Chieftain — this formed what is today's El Defensor Chieftain newspaper.

After statehood in 1912, the State of New Mexico began to provide increasing funds for public education, including line-by-line funding for school construction. Many of the old adobe schools built in the 1880s and 1890s were being replaced in the 1920s with more substantial brick and mortar buildings. These new designs even included heating and indoor plumbing!

In Socorro County, a push for better school buildings was begun by County Superintendent Elsie Cronin and Superintendent Enoch Enloe in the early 1920s. Enloe, although he was the superintendent of the Socorro Public Schools, also served on the State Board of Education and championed the building of new schools in Socorro County. Schools at Lemitar, Polvadera, La Joya, San Marcial and San Antonio were built in the mid- to late 1920s. At this time, all of these rural schools were independent school districts with no connection to the Socorro Public Schools.

In 1927, Cronin and Enloe combined state and county funding to build a new multi-room schoolhouse for San Antonio. The new building was completed in time for the 1928-1929 school year. This is the San Antonio Elementary School we know today. Eighty years later, it is still in use. The general appearance has changed very little.

According to the dedication plaque, the 1928 San Antonio District School Board consisted of President Constancio Miera, and members Mauricio Chavez and Teodolo Lucero.

The old 1897-built schoolhouse sat abandoned for several years. It was occassionally used as a skating rink during the winter months. In the early 1930s, it was sold by the San Antonio Rural School District at auction. The new owner used the building as a gas station and garage until after World War II. Today, the faint "Gas" and "Oil" signs can still be seen on the front of the old schoolhouse.

The WPA Schools

The largest boost to New Mexico rural education was the Works Projects Administration, or WPA. In order to get millions of people back to work during the Great Depression, President Theodore Roosevelt created the WPA. Many rural schools were built under the WPA program in the 1930s, including many in Socorro County.

For Socorroan's, the Depression and the WPA came none too soon. Just a month before the October 1929 stock market crash, a flood down the Rio Grande nearly destroyed the towns, and the schools, at San Acacia, San Pedro, Bosquecito and San Marcial. Schools in these communities relocated where they could — or were closed.

Some of the WPA-built schools in Socorro County were the Socorro Grade School, Magdalena, Socorro, San Pedro, Contreras, Alamillo, Lemitar, Polvadera, Escondida and San Acacia. The WPA school buildings were well built with rebar, brick and concrete to last for years. And, indeed, they have. Although these rural schools have long been closed, the buildings are all still standing, except at Lemitar. Some are now being used as homes.

In 1936, the WPA also built new school buildings at San Antonio and Polvadera for additional classroom space. The San Antonio WPA building, in itself now 72 years old, is still being used on the San Antonio Elementary School campus.

These old WPA school buildings in Socorro County, like the old mission churches, are a unique part of our history. In fact, across the country, there has been a recent movement to save and restore some of the remaining WPA structures. Local efforts have begun to hopefully preserve the old WPA Socorro Grade School on Garfield Street. These old WPA school buildings are an irreplaceable part of Americana.

School Consolidation

The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare was created in March 1953. Guidelines were issued to begin establishing national standards for education. One of the key points was consolidating rural schools with larger school districts where possible.

New Mexico wasted no time implementing these guidelines. The Aug. 23, 1953 Socorro Chieftain contained the following headline: "State Orders Socorro School Consolidation Immediately." The article explained the details.

"Mr. J. T. Clegg, Socorro Public School Superintendent, told The Chieftain that the order for consolidation of Socorro county schools was sent out August 23 by the State Superintendent of Schools, Mrs. Georgia Lusk, and by the State School Board. This order stated that the Socorro public schools should take administrative duties and responsibilities of the schools at Lemitar, Polvadera, San Antonio, Ft. Craig, Carthage, San Acacia, Alamillo and parts of district 36 and 52 (La Joya, Claunch, and Bingham). The municipal board (is) to take charge of these schools for school opening, August 29."

Odd how after nearly a century of rural education, the Socorro Public Schools were given a mere six days to implement consolidation! Rural education came to an end and the Socorro Consolidatated School District was born on Aug. 23, 1953. Clegg was the first superintendent. Didio Salas remained as Superintendent of County Schools during the transition.

The new Consolidatated School Board consisted of President Sam Zimmerly, Vice President Santiago Baca and Secretary Daniel Romero. The day before school started, the board announced the schools that were to remain open and the principal of each school: Raymond Sarracino at Polvadera; Antonio Luna in Lemitar; Ida Wright in San Marcial; Adrian Baca at Alamillo; Fermin Cordova in Santa Rita (Riley); Eulalio Barela in Las Nutrias; Marvianne Lindsey at Dusty; Rafael Tafoya in Contreras; Virginia Buckley at Claunch; and, of course, Pete Eaton at San Antonio.

Do you remember some of these teachers and principals? Polvadera principal, Raymond Sarracino, went on to serve as superintendent of Socorro Consolidatated Schools for many years. Today, Dr. Cheryl Wilson is the superintendent. The district's eight schools now have 2,000 students and nearly 300 employees, including the two remaining rural schools at Midway and San Antonio.

The year following consolidation, a number of Socorro's rural schools were closed. La Joya, Contreras and Las Nutrias were closed and students and staff transferred to Belen; Claunch students were transferred to Corona; Dusty and Riley transferred to the Magdalena schools. San Acacia was closed with its six students transferred to Lemitar; and the 22 students at San Marcial were transferred to San Antonio. All of these closed schools now stand empty and their blackboards are bare.

The Last Rural Schools

Over the years, the expense of maintaining these aging rural schools were taking their toll. By the mid-1960s, most of the rural schools had been closed and the students were bused to the Socorro schools — much as they are today. In 1966, Midway School opened to serve the elementary grade students from Lemitar to San Acacia. San Antonio continues to serve the students in the southern part of the district as they have done since 1928.

Today, Midway and San Antonio are the only two rural schools remaining within the Socorro Consolidatated School District. The superintendent and school board supports these two rural schools wholeheartedly. In fact, a brand new Midway School is now under construction to be ready for the 2009-2010 school year.

When Socorro Consolidatated Schools was formed in 1953, all of the rural independent school districts were disbanded and all unneccesary records destroyed. For this reason, it was very difficult finding historical information on the Socorro County schools prior to 1953. Fortunately, the written record left by El Defensor Chieftain newspaper, and the memories of former students and teachers, has proven to be invaluable in documenting the history of San Antonio and the early rural schools.

Unfortunately, a student from San Antonio's first 1928 class could not be found — or at least anyone who would admit to it! However, I did find many people who attended San Antonio Elementary School over the years, and the fond memories they still have of one of New Mexico's oldest schools.

Although this article looks at the adobe, brick and mortar that built Socorro County's rural schoolhouses, let us never forget the teachers and staff that made these buildings into schools. As we celebrate the 80th birthday of San Antonio Elementary School, let us also celebrate the teachers, administrators and staff who have dedicated their lives to educate the children of Socorro County over so many years. Without them, there would be no schools.

The history of Socorro's public schools will be presented in a future article.

Some of the references used in this article: "Legacy of Honor, The Life of Rafael Chacon," edited by Jacqueline Meketa; various issues of El Defensor Chieftain; New Mexico Education Association; Socorro Consolidatated School District; interviews with Rowena Baca, Mary Rose Baca, Raymond Vandervoort, Dr. Cheryl Wilson, John Dennis, Mary Gallegos and Kay Krehbiel; and field work by the author. All photos are by Paul Harden unless otherwise noted.

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