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Show SCHOOL: 0 (Continued from Page 66) building was actually comis unclear. pleted "When the schoolhouse was built," Beck wrote, "it gave the settlers a place to hold church so it was decided that a branch of the church should be organized." The branch was organized in March of 892, so it is to be assumed that school may have gone into session around that date also. However, it wasn't until 1893 that a school diswhen the 1 trict was organized with George Myers, Stephen Moyle, and William Wilcox as Trustees according to Beck's Stephen "History Highland." In Ruby Buhler's Book of of jiff -- Remembrance for Highland, it is recorded that the school was built at a cost of $500. (The building was later sold in 1930 by the Alpine School District to the LDS Church for $300.) It is also interesting to note that it was not until after the school was built that Highland was recognized in government records as a separate community. According to Durfey, before 1895, Highland's early settlers were recorded as living within the towns of Alpine or American Fork According to a Myers family history. John Patterson was the teacher around 1894, but there is no more mention of him and it does not say whether or not I Photo courtesy of Ruby Buhler Elementary school kids pose in front of the old Highland School. The school was built in the earfy 1890s. he was the first to teach at the school or how long he taught. James Copeland Orr came to the Highland area in the Spring of 1899. "He taught school for nearly eight years," wrote Stephen Beck, "and taught all eight grades, also doing the janitor work and made the fires in the stove." Beck, big, old who had been one of his students praised Orr as a good teacher and wrote, "No one ever kept better discipline in the school room or was more pot-belli- ed respected by his students." Orr was also made Presiding Elder of the Highland Branch from 1900 to 1905. He was married to Maggie Ferrell of Alpine and they had 13 children. The schoolhouse was the place where most all of Highland's social gatherings were held. It was there that one of the first Trustees George Yost Myers met his future bride Mary Lee Wilson from Lehi when she brought her aunt's children to the school for treats the day of a Sapsp 100 Birthday, UTAH!;? rj ' Christmas dance in 1894. He asked her for a date to bring her back to the dunce that evening and they were married six months later according to a history written by Ruby Day. This was not Mr. Myer's first marriage, however. In 1871, he had married Mary Ann Whiting and they had nine children. But tragedy struck in May of 1894. Diptheria had entered their home and within a period of days, Mary Ann, 38, and three of her young daughters had all died. Because there was an epidemic at the time, no funerals were allowed. One of the surviving children wrote in Ruby Buhler's book, "When we were well enough, we picked wildflowers and laid them on the graves. I shall never forget how sad we all were." When 21 year-old Mary Lee married the widower, 42, she became the mother of six children and the couple had five more. Through the years the original schoolhouse was added on to several times. Around 1927, Highland's children were sent to Harrington School in American Fork as it was thought they would have more advantages in a larger school according to Mrs. Buhler. The building then became an LDS Meeting House. In 1946, there was a fire that destroyed everything but left the brick walls standing. It was decided to incorporate those brick walls into a new church building which is still standing today on 6000 West. yOv BSa. JS F Family owned and operated for 37 years We're not quite 100 years yet.;. ., , ; , , , , . , i t i .!. 'i i.iV-.ii- ' i. Z i , H','gN M.: |