Bangs Public Schools

Duane's take

The official marker for Bangs Public Schools tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Now, the town of Bangs owed a debt to the Santa Fe Railroad from the very start. The railroad didn't just lay tracks through the area, it actually deeded land to the city for a school.

That's not nothing. That's the foundation of something. The first school building went up in 1892.

A two-room frame structure, sitting on the south side of the railroad tracks. Two rooms. And into those two rooms walked thirty-five pupils on opening day, with a teacher named Miss Clemie King standing at the front.

First teacher the school ever had. Thirty-five kids, two rooms, one teacher. You work with what you've got.

But Bangs had ambitions. By 1903, a new building was going up on the north side of the tracks. Two stories.

Stone. That's not a schoolhouse anymore, that's a statement. The old frame structure stepped aside, and this new building took its place as the center of learning in the community.

The years rolled on, and the school system kept growing, kept adding facilities, kept reaching outward. Nine other area schools have consolidated with the Bangs school system since its founding. Nine.

One by one, the surrounding communities folded their own stories into this one. What started as two rooms and thirty-five pupils on the south side of a railroad track grew into something that kept pulling its neighbors in. Miss Clemie King started something worth keeping.

What the marker says

The town of Bangs was established on the route of the Santa Fe Railroad, which deeded land to the city for a school. The first school building, a two-room frame structure on the south side of the railroad tracks, was completed in 1892. Miss Clemie King was the first teacher; enrollment totaled 35 pupils. A new 2-story stone structure, built on the north side of the tracks in 1903, replaced the first building. Over the years the school system has grown and built additional facilities. Nine other area schools have consolidated with the Bangs school system since its founding. (1992)