Unity schools are gone but not forgotten

By Neal Hogden and Alan Gurtner, author of “A Village Called Unity” Members of the village of Unity first built a school in 1874. The one-room schoolhouse was a log cabin-style building that was sufficient-enough to teach the few children that resided in the village. Not long after, I.J. Austin thought the school could use another room to house the upper grades.

In 1883, the first Unity High School was started by John R. Salter. The first graduates of the high school received their diplomas in 1887. They consisted of: Fred Vaughn, John Fremont, Jennie Cook, Worden Cook, Calvin Burton and Grant McCurdy. The school’s mascot was the Tigers and both the girls and boys had basketball teams by the early 1900s.

In 1890, some of the students were playing with matches in a wood shed near the school. The shed started on fire and took the school down with it. A new, two-story structure was built after the fire which was quickly outgrown by the growing population of Unity.

In 1910, the village raised a three-story elementary and high school which cost the village $12,500. The building was used as a high school until 1954 when Unity high school students were sent to Colby.

In 1939, the village purchased their first new school buses.

The school remained an elementary school until 1960 when a one-story brick building was constructed and used as an elementary school until 2006. Grades K-5 were held at the school for a time before it eventually switched to just kindergarten.

In 2006, the district decided to send all students to Colby for school and the building was eventually sold.