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Photos: Back to school in a bygone era

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Liz Copan
  

DILLON — Local “schoolmarm” Christy Nelson is dressed in a floor-length black skirt and a frilled white blouse waiting for a group of schoolchildren that historically would be separated into two lines, waiting for the first day of school at the doors of the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse.

One-room schoolhouses once dotted the growing American landscape, numbering more than 100,000 in 1900. Of those, 400 remain today, diligently preserved by historians such as the Ladies of Dillon.

In traditional dress, Christy Nelson, local historian and "school-marm" rings the bell at Dillon's historic 1883 School House on Thursday, Aug. 22, and speaks about the history of the building.
In traditional dress, Christy Nelson, local historian and “schoolmarm” stands in the historic 1883 one-room schoolhouse in Dillon on Thursday, Aug. 22, and speaks about the history of the building.
Liz Copan / ecopan@summitdaily.com
Christy Nelson, local historian and "school-marm" rings the bell at Dillon's historic 1883 one-room school house on Thursday, Aug. 22.
Christy Nelson rings the bell at Dillon’s historic 1883 one-room schoolhouse and museum on Thursday, Aug. 22, symbolically signaling the beginning of school.
Liz Copan/ecopan@summitdaily.com
A detail of the rope of the bell at the historic one-room schoolhouse in Dillon, Colo. The bell was rung on Thursday, Aug. 22, by local historian and "school-marm" Christy Nelson who is the education coordinator at the Summit Historical Society.
The rope used to ring the bell at the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse.
Liz Copan / ecopan@summitdaily.com
Rows of McGuffey desks fill the one room of the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse.
Rows of McGuffey desks fill the main room of the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse.
Liz Copan/Summit Daily News archive
A "schedule of the day" is written on the chalkboard of the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse.
A sample “schedule of the day” is written on the chalkboard in the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse.
Liz Copan / ecopan@summitdaily.com
Sally Queen, left, and Christy Nelson hold up a giant fabric map of the state of Colorado in the one-room 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019.
Sally Queen, left, and Christy Nelson unfold a giant, fabric map of the state of Colorado in the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse in Dillon on Thursday, Aug. 22.
Liz Copan / ecopan@summitdaily.com

Learn more about the museum and its history by visiting the 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse, 403 LaBonte St. in Dillon.

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