Montezuma County is both celebrating and reaching into its roots by adding Manaugh School to the city’s Register of Historic Resources for its architectural and cultural significance, and continuing the research into the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp that existed on the northwest edge of the city from 1939 to 1941.
Manaugh, built in 1955, contains its “original design, features, materials and/or character” according to the city’s Community and Economic Development Director, Rachael Marchbanks. The building’s “brick construction, glass block windows and prominent bay entryway,” together represent period design and construction (Journal, July 30).
No longer utilized as an elementary school as of three years ago, Manaugh may have a future as affordable housing perhaps appropriately for teachers. The school district is exploring that possibility.
For the building’s sake, it’s fortunate that it is expected to be put to use. Unoccupied buildings are quick to deteriorate.
Advocates for historic preservation, including The Journal’s editorial board, point to the possibility of tax credits and state historic fund grants for the kinds of internal improvements and maintenance needs that allow for older buildings to remain standing, and most often in use.
That Montezuma County residents (rural and city dwellers attended Manaugh) know that a 70 year-old building, a school building, that was architecturally reflective of the time still exists in the broader community is what valued “roots” are made of.
As to the other historic initiative underway, the CCC camp that was in place 85 years ago left no structures. Broken concrete may be all that is left.
For it, multiple daily routines drawn from reports and journals and sketches of the camp layout and a few photos may be all that’s possible to be assembled, but nevertheless significant. Franklin Roosevelt’s nationwide mid-1930s CCC initiative during the Great Depression gave men employment on public works projects when none was available otherwise. Durango’s fairgrounds benefited from CCC construction, as did multiple buildings at Mesa Verde National Park.
An early History Colorado grant made initial research into the CCC location possible, while $22,000 recently awarded from the same organization will continue that work.
Linda Towle, vice-chair of Cortez Historic Preservation encouraged family members who may be descendants of the camp’s CCC workers to contact the Montezuma Heritage Museum’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Quinn MacMillan, at execdirector@montezumamuseum.org or 970-516-1100.
Well done to those in Cortez who know historic preservation is important, and to the Cortez City Council for its support of both Manaugh’s designation and the dive into the CCC’s presence in the city. Both indicate the value Cortez places on knowing and appreciating its past, which adds to its appeal.
