What we know
The Larkspur school, District 15, and its building's date. The 2005 Douglas County History Web (S-0129): a frame school built about 1884 on the Carr Lamb Ranch southwest of town was moved on skids in 1890 to the village's northeast corner near the Arfsten house and destroyed by a tornado on May 27, 1896; the town then voted a tax for a one-room brick schoolhouse; 'in 1913' a red-brick, two-room building was completed at the present location, extended in 1932. That fits the cyclone of Aug. 3, 1912, which 'completely demolished the school house' (Record Journal, S-0122). The binders call the present building 'a one-room brick schoolhouse built in 1896,' enlarged 1932 and 1959, now the post office (statements of 1998 and about 2007); the county's 2012 map has a tornado in 1890 and the brick school in 1896 (S-0123). The History Web and the 1912 newspaper agree on a 1912-13 rebuilding (majority). Placed at GNIS's post-office point; the 1956 county map's 'School' symbol falls within 300 feet (Larkspur Historical Society binder 1 p. 220).
Where it was
USGS GNIS Post Office 2736052
The U.S. Geological Survey's official point for this place name.
Sources
- S-0005: Larkspur Historical Society, "Historical Site Survey Binders"
- S-0006: USGS Geographic Names Information System, Colorado file, 2021-08-25 edition
- S-0122: CHNC newspapers: the Larkspur sweep, 1873–1930 (headline search "Larkspur," 1871–1930)
- S-0123: Douglas County Historic Resource Map (Douglas County Community Planning and Sustainable Development, the Douglas County History Research Center of Douglas County Libraries, and the Douglas County Historic Preservation Board, 2012), as put on Google Maps and Google Earth by the Larkspur Historical Society
- S-0129: Douglas County History Research Center web pages (douglascountyhistory.org, via the Wayback Machine): the Bear Canon Cemetery index (2009) and David J. Pack's history; the Douglas County History Web (2005)
Sources are named in the text above. Numbers such as S-0080 refer to our source list. Most newspaper quotations were read in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Long quotations from recent books are shortened here.