Emerson School listed on National Register of Historic Places
August 18, 2025
The Sublette County Historic Preservation Board and Sublette County Historical Society are pleased to announce they received word from the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office that the National Park Service has formally listed the Emerson School to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
"Emerson School represents an important part of Wyoming's history and is an excellent addition to the NRHP," wrote Casey Waster, National Register Coordinator with the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office.
The National Register is the nation's official list of historic properties worthy of preservation.
The Emerson School is a one-room log building constructed in about 1909 on rural ranchland located approximately 20 miles southeast of Boulder, Wyoming. The school served students from nearby ranches for 45 years, from 1914 to 1959. It was one of the longer and later operating one-room schools in Sublette County.
The remote Emerson School was administered by Fremont County until 1923 when Sublette County was formed. Records indicate that the school accommodated between one and eighteen students in its single room in any given year. A total of thirty-four teachers and 64 different students have been identified as associated with the institution over the decades. In addition to being a classroom for first through eighth grade education activities, the Emerson schoolhouse was also utilized by local residents as a community center, being the site of dances, community meetings and religious education (Sunday school).
What is now Sublette County once had many such similar one-room rural schoolhouses serving nearby ranching families. But, today, nearly all have collapsed, disappeared, or lie on private land, some still serving as storage sheds on area ranches. Another of the few remaining school house structures in Sublette County, the Sommers-Price school, was moved and was restored as part of the restored and preserved buildings at the Green River Valley Museum in Big Piney. Few one-room schoolhouses exist today in their original locations in the nation, especially in settings similar to what things looked like when that school was in operation.
In 2023, a documentary was made about the Emerson School. The half-hour long film was researched and created by filmmaker Brooks Mitchell. In creating material for the production, he interviewed four former students (Gary Jensen, Laura Jensen, Chris Jensen Sundstrom, Glenna Grinder Johnson), along with a former teacher (Evelyn Evans Lohman), and local historian Jonita Sommers. (One Room Life Lessons)
In 1959, the decommissioned school building was left on private land on an area ranch and used for various purposes. The building was later lovingly restored back to its original schoolroom purpose by landowner Claire Faler and subsequently donated to the Sublette County Historical Society in 2020 so it could be preserved into the future. Physically, it is in excellent condition, and its interior is furnished with period furniture and books.
The Sublette County Historic Preservation Board, a County-appointed board, initiated the process to get the Emerson School listed on the National Register. There are 24 properties and districts listed on the National Register in Sublette County. The Sublette County Historical Society, a non-profit organization which also operates the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, owns and maintains the Emerson School.
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