The Way We Were: Grants Union High School
By Paul Milan, Cibola County Historical Society, for the Beacon
Published: Tuesday, February 3, 2015
I was glad to hear that there is interest in the future of the Cibola County Complex that was originally Grants Union High School.
The building was completed and the first classes took place in 1929-30. The first graduating class was in 1931. One of my family stories is that my grandfather Silvestre Mirabal was given the responsibility, by the State, for determining the best location for the school. San Rafael had the largest population and the citizens felt it should be located there. The citizens of Bluewater felt that they had the most students that would attend a high school and demanded that it be located in Bluewater. Grants was more centrally located in this part of the county and it seemed better for everyone that had to travel from Bluewater, San Rafael, Laguna, Acoma, San Mateo, Cubero, Seboyeta, and San Fidel that it would make it more sense to locate the school there and would be more fair for everyone. There were no paved roads at that time so you could understand the travel concerns that everyone had.
My mother attended school in Albuquerque and my grandfather asked her to transfer to Grants Union High School. Since he was promoting the school people would think that he felt that the school was not good enough for his children. My mother loved Albuquerque and responded that she would transfer on the condition that he bought her a car. So he paid the bribe and she enrolled in the 12th grade and was a member of the first graduating class in 1931. My mother said that one of the hardest parts of driving from San Rafael to school was that most of the time she had to drive up the San Rafael hill in reverse; it seems that the Model A Fords had more power in reverse.
Grants Union High School was the center of all activities in the Grants area and the citizens attended all of the events with the gym and hallways packed with people of all ages. A school function meant that everyone was invited. The Homecoming Dance was packed and at the Junior-Senior Prom the gym was set with the dinner for the students and the adults and other family members would watch from the hallways. After the dinner and the crowning of the Queen everybody would join the students for the dance; this was the way it was in 1952.
In 1955 at the Homecoming Dance there were about twenty-five people in attendance. Grants had graduated from a small farming and tourist town to a larger industrial uranium-mining town; and it lost its innocence. The word was that the attendance had dwindled because a public dance would end in a brawl.
As a participant at most of the dances at the Grants Union High School from 1947-52 there was never recorded a brawl, which included the annual three-night rodeo dances that lasted until 3 a.m.
Hopefully our leaders will do everything possible to preserve this building that has served the area so well. As the Historian for the Cibola Historical Society there have been a number of inquiries about the status of the old buildings from people that are especially interested in Highway 66 history.
This includes New Mexico University researchers, Europeans, and Highway 66 buffs. I have made the determination that there are many travelers that will stop at a town that has something unique from the past.
There have been more inquires made about the Yucca Hotel, the California Hotel, and other buildings than the mining and farming history. Unfortunately there has been the destruction of many of the old buildings that had a lot of character. The new train depot replaced a depot that was similar to the depots in Western movies that took place in the 1800s. This historic building was replaced by a matchbox building that was contaminated with asbestos, which was later destroyed and was not replaced.
Remember the Gypsum /Pumice Plant? People inquire about it because it was a symbol of the past.
In the late 1980s the Grants Union High School was turned into a convention center and having attended many of the functions it seemed to be the perfect venue to attract the smaller conventions. However as the offices were filled up by the County, space began to be limited and there were fewer functions that were taking place except for government meetings. The museum photographs that the Cibola Arts Council has moved to the Center pretty well characterize what the building can become and hopefully it could grow into a unique attraction.
In all my years living in this area, Grants Union High School has been the only building that I have noticed being photographed by tourists.
Editor’s Note: Paul Milan contributes to the Beacon’s history column and is a longtime resident of Cibola County. Milan’s father, Salvador Milan, was the Village of Milan’s first mayor.
By Paul Milan, Cibola County Historical Society, for the Beacon
Published: Tuesday, February 3, 2015
I was glad to hear that there is interest in the future of the Cibola County Complex that was originally Grants Union High School.
The building was completed and the first classes took place in 1929-30. The first graduating class was in 1931. One of my family stories is that my grandfather Silvestre Mirabal was given the responsibility, by the State, for determining the best location for the school. San Rafael had the largest population and the citizens felt it should be located there. The citizens of Bluewater felt that they had the most students that would attend a high school and demanded that it be located in Bluewater. Grants was more centrally located in this part of the county and it seemed better for everyone that had to travel from Bluewater, San Rafael, Laguna, Acoma, San Mateo, Cubero, Seboyeta, and San Fidel that it would make it more sense to locate the school there and would be more fair for everyone. There were no paved roads at that time so you could understand the travel concerns that everyone had.
My mother attended school in Albuquerque and my grandfather asked her to transfer to Grants Union High School. Since he was promoting the school people would think that he felt that the school was not good enough for his children. My mother loved Albuquerque and responded that she would transfer on the condition that he bought her a car. So he paid the bribe and she enrolled in the 12th grade and was a member of the first graduating class in 1931. My mother said that one of the hardest parts of driving from San Rafael to school was that most of the time she had to drive up the San Rafael hill in reverse; it seems that the Model A Fords had more power in reverse.
Grants Union High School was the center of all activities in the Grants area and the citizens attended all of the events with the gym and hallways packed with people of all ages. A school function meant that everyone was invited. The Homecoming Dance was packed and at the Junior-Senior Prom the gym was set with the dinner for the students and the adults and other family members would watch from the hallways. After the dinner and the crowning of the Queen everybody would join the students for the dance; this was the way it was in 1952.
In 1955 at the Homecoming Dance there were about twenty-five people in attendance. Grants had graduated from a small farming and tourist town to a larger industrial uranium-mining town; and it lost its innocence. The word was that the attendance had dwindled because a public dance would end in a brawl.
As a participant at most of the dances at the Grants Union High School from 1947-52 there was never recorded a brawl, which included the annual three-night rodeo dances that lasted until 3 a.m.
Hopefully our leaders will do everything possible to preserve this building that has served the area so well. As the Historian for the Cibola Historical Society there have been a number of inquiries about the status of the old buildings from people that are especially interested in Highway 66 history.
This includes New Mexico University researchers, Europeans, and Highway 66 buffs. I have made the determination that there are many travelers that will stop at a town that has something unique from the past.
There have been more inquires made about the Yucca Hotel, the California Hotel, and other buildings than the mining and farming history. Unfortunately there has been the destruction of many of the old buildings that had a lot of character. The new train depot replaced a depot that was similar to the depots in Western movies that took place in the 1800s. This historic building was replaced by a matchbox building that was contaminated with asbestos, which was later destroyed and was not replaced.
Remember the Gypsum /Pumice Plant? People inquire about it because it was a symbol of the past.
In the late 1980s the Grants Union High School was turned into a convention center and having attended many of the functions it seemed to be the perfect venue to attract the smaller conventions. However as the offices were filled up by the County, space began to be limited and there were fewer functions that were taking place except for government meetings. The museum photographs that the Cibola Arts Council has moved to the Center pretty well characterize what the building can become and hopefully it could grow into a unique attraction.
In all my years living in this area, Grants Union High School has been the only building that I have noticed being photographed by tourists.
Editor’s Note: Paul Milan contributes to the Beacon’s history column and is a longtime resident of Cibola County. Milan’s father, Salvador Milan, was the Village of Milan’s first mayor.
