Rago Colo

Rago, Colorado

Rago was a small community in the NW part of Washington County, next to the Morgan County line.  It had a Post Office, shops, stores and a roller skating ring.  The skating rink was an unusual amenity in these small settlement communities on the prairie.   Scattered across the land are other communities with roller rings.

There is not much left of the little burg.  There are some trees that mark the spot and out in the pasture are the rubble piles and foundations where the stores and homes had been.  Today cattle graze among the ruins, listening to the whispering winds of the past. 

It is mostly range land in the area and there are a couple of ranches nearby and some old, falling apart buildings.  The windswept land had its horrible moments during the dirty thirties.  Reminders of the Dust Bowl can be seen on occasion.  One ponders the hardships the early day settlers had to deal with. 

A roller rink would be a good diversion.  It probably also the social center for the area.  Many a young couple met and romance flourished on the hard boards.  The rink was probably also used as a community center.  Meet and discuss the problems of the day, quilting Bee’s, card parties and the weekend hoe down.

One can sit on the empty country road and hear the voices of the past.  Let the imagination roll back to a time that has passed.  Today it seems like hard times.  Back then it was life and people rolled with it.  There was no big government, people made their own way.  This is the heritage our forefathers handed off to us. 

A song of the land that rolled all the way across and ocean and traveled westward.  A spirit that was undaunted by the land.  The land held dreams of their own piece. 

Woodrow School

Woodrow Schoolhouse

            The Woodrow schoolhouse is located to the south and west of the town of Woodrow.  A true country school, surrounded by prairie and farmland.  The land is now pretty empty, most of the farmhouse are gone.  There are a couple of farm homes nearby and the home of the folks that bought the old schoolhouse. 

            The building has set neglected for years and shows the wear.  Trees have sprouted up next to the foundation, windows are broken and the roof is crumbling. 

            In the late 40’s, oil was discovered in NE Colorado, the Julesburg Basin, that stretched into southern Washington County.  This oil boom provided some taxes for the local school districts and the folks of Woodrow got together with the people of Lindon.  They agreed to consolidate their schools and a new school was built in the pasture.  Woodrow School would be no more.  It would become a part of Woodlin School. 

            At the time the new Woodlin School was built, it was a state of the art facility.  Best equipment, school labs, classrooms, cafeteria and sports facility.  But the rural population decline did not halt.  The new consolidated school lost students and today it is a country struggle to keep things going.  Yet the country folks do not give up, their school is still their home pride and Woodlin is one of many schools out east that roll along, turning out some of the best students in the state. 

            The old Woodrow school building still stands, for how many more years is a question.  Like a waning beacon it stands on the prairie. 

Community of Flat Top

Flat Top, Colorado

The community of Flat Top was located near the four corners of Lincoln, Arapahoe, Elbert and Washington counties meet.  Situated at the base of the mountain that it took its name from, it was a Post Office, General Store combination.  The first Flat Top Post Office was located in a ranch house about 4 miles north.  With the opening of the store the PO was moved. 

Way back in the early 1900’s there was a good collection of homesteaders in the area to support the little sore and the other businesses that popped up.  Like so many little communities on the High Plains, the Dust Bowl blew many off their land and today it is pretty empty country. 

Today there are a few ranches in the area and the bovines keep the prairie grass mown.  Traffic on the highway flies past going down hill and the south bounders begin climbing up the hill.  On the high plains the 7500 foot hill is just a big hill, not a small mountain.  Because over that a way are the snow capped peaks of the Rockies.  The big mound of dirt called Flat Top is just that, a big hill, an elevation of around 6000 feet.

To the south was the Railroad and many of the local farmers went to Genoa, rather then going over the hill to Limon.  Going around the hill was easier then going over it.  One of the farmers, when he hauled his grain to town, would stop and fill up with coal for the home trip.  That winter he had coal to sell to his neighbors. 

Short distance away was Walks Camp and the Churches that many attended.  To the West were the Breaks.  Here were cool woods, small streams and plentiful wildlife.  The site of many summer family outings.  It was also the hiding grounds of a small band of Indians that did not want to go the Reservation.  By estimates, they were able to avoid the government until WWII. 

It was a land of many faces that held a great allure until the drought of the 30’s reared its ugly head.  Many did cling to their land and survived the dust storms and today their ancestors still live in the area working the land. 

The old highway winds across the face of the hill.  

Gary School

          Gary was a community situated in the SE corner of Morgan County. The schoolhouse is about the only reminder that there once was a community.  There are no buildings in the area that look like they could have been stores.  The Post Office, more then like;y was operated out of a private residence..

          The schoolhouse has been neglected for years and is overgrown that is has almost disappeared.  The small gym/auditorium sits high enough to be visible. 

          The landscaping out front has gone un tended and has covered over the front of the school.  In the back it is overgrown with weeds and assorted rubble.  The driveway around the school is maintained and appears to used to park equipment on occasion.  The back of the gym had double doors and may have been a garage at one time.  Now it house a fox and other critter. 

          Not a one room school but an interesting school to find and ponder as I walk around it.  Back in the day it was probably a primetime school for the country kids that went to school there.  From the classrooms and size I would guess it schooled 40-60 students, grades one thorough twelve.  Kindergarten was a city thing years ago. 

          The roof has caved in, windows are broken, doors stand ajar and mother nature continues reclamation work.