The Canyon Creek Schoolhouse opened to students in 1894. At that time, the schoolhouse was about a mile from the town of Hamilton. You might think of a schoolhouse of this time as being a one-room wooden building, but the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse was a two-story building constructed from locally-made bricks.
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Image: Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum, 01465
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The schoolhouse was located on the west side of the Bitterroot River near a bridge that connected the town of Canyon Creek to the town of Hamilton, Montana, shown here across the river.
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Image: Courtesy of Dr. Marshall BloomBitterroot Drug
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In April 1921, the citizens of the Hamilton and Canyon Creek school districts voted to become one school district. Canyon Creek residents had worked for the consolidation, and Hamilton citizens enthusiastically agreed at the voting booth. The next school year would begin in Hamilton, and the schoolhouse would be empty.
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In this undated photograph, students pose with their teachers on the steps of the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse in Montana. In the fall of 1921, students would have to cross the bridge over the Bitterroot River to attend school in the town of Hamilton, abandoning their old brick school.
