An 80-year-old woman likely will be the new owner of the long-closed but historic school building in the Route 66 hamlet of Cuervo, N.M., according to a story in the current print edition of the Guadalupe County Communicator, based in nearby Santa Rosa.
The Santa Rosa school board owns the property, but put it up for bids some months ago. According to the newspaper, the high bidder is Flora Page, who was born and reared in Cuervo.
Page reportedly bid $10,250, beating out three others that ranged from $10,100.50 to $6,350. The Santa Rosa Schools superintendent says he will recommend the high bid be accepted.
The Communicator said:
Seeing the school where she had so many memories fall apart, “I was so heartbroken,” Mrs. Page said on Tuesday in a phone interview from her primary residence in Albuquerque.
“You know what? For a long time I’ve been wanting to buy that school,” she said. “At the time, it had all the windows, doors, everything … It’s in pretty bad shape now. If I don’t get it, I hope somebody thinks enough of it to do something with it.” […]
Her late father, a stone mason, was among those who helped construct the school, which drew pupils from a wide area of the countryside. […]
Although her exact plans are up in the air, she stressed that her plan would be to restore the building and put it to use — not to dismantle it or tear it down.
Page will face a Herculean effort to restore the property. Not only is the structure dilapidated from neglect and age, but it’s difficult to even access it because of deep erosion around the property boundaries.
A recent photo of Cuervo School can be seen here.
Photo Available?
I linked to a photo on Flickr, Ken.
God bless Mrs Page for her willingness to tackle this project and I wish her the strength and fortitude to complete the task. If there will be a request for donations to assist her efforts please put the information in your great much anticipated each day email
Wow, that’s a great looking old place. If her father had a hand in building it as the article says, I can see why she takes suc pride in the place. Best of luck to her.
Among the flickr photos, the a church in the same town that appears to be of very similar construction. I wonder if her father had a hand in building it as well?
Interesting observation. It would not surprise me if that were the case.
We came thru Cuervo fri sept 14,we took off I-40 and hit the side road .As we drove pastthe fallen buildings we came up on the school
The windows have been boarded up and a no trespassing sign is on it. It appears there has been no work done on it
We did notice that there are a lot of survey stakes and boundery markers that have just been put up all along the road in front of the properties. One one piece of property there is several 100 feet of 6 foot chain link fence
I am not sure if someone has purchased the town or if maybe the state is blocking access to the buildings
As we left the wife and I talked about trying to purchase the old school and some of the properties
I happened upon this story doing a search.I wish her the best with her project
Doc, today I received a copy of the Guadalupe County Communicator, which reports that Flora Page’s bid indeed was accepted. She hopes to refurbish the building for a gallery or some other type of use.
Flora’s $10,250 bid was used to buy musical instruments for Santa Rosa schoolchildren.