Name/Title
Old School 1920Entry/Object ID
1989.323.0159Description
Old School 1920's #9A on the walking tour 51 E. First North
When the Mormon settlers came to the Mesquite Flats in 1894, they designated this site as the public square. In 1897 a walled tent was put up on the east side of the present day gymnasium and served as a school and church. Two years later, the school and church were moved to another property and the tent was sold.
In 1923 a block school was built on the property and was also rented by the church. The blocks were made from lots of gravel and a little cement. The gravel came from a gravel bed on the far side of the river behind the Abbott Hotel. In 1935 School District Number One was established by the State. It included schools in Mesquite, Bunkerville, Overton, and Dry Lake, Nevada.
School District One added the gymnasium in 1939. With the addition, the school classes were divided between the two buildings. The school building had an auditorium, a library and classrooms for grades three through six. In the Gymnasium, the stage on the east side and a room on the west side (which became a kitchen for a Senior Citizens Center) housed the kindergartens. There were also classrooms for the first and second grades. These later housed the Virgin Valley Medical Clinic and the Mesquite Justice Court. Behind the school on the east side of the property there were rabbit pens, a bus yard and a water tower. High school students attended Virgin Valley High School in Bunkerville.
The gymnasium is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, it is representative of the historic context schoolhouse Architecture in Southern Nevada’s Fifth Supervision District, 1870 to 1942.”