Once upon a time, 10 schools were open along U.S. 2 corridor

The closure of Canyon Elementary marks the end of an era in the Canyon.

Once at least 10 schools operated between Hungry Horse and Marias Pass. Over the years, schools in Apgar, Coram, Essex, Lake Five, Nyack, Paola and Summit closed, and students attended nearby schools.

By the early 1980s, only schools in West Glacier, Martin City and Hungry Horse were open, all operating as part of the Columbia Falls School District. Kindergartners, first- and second-graders attended school at Martin City and moved to school in Hungry Horse for third through sixth grades.

The three schools discussed whether it might be more practical to consolidate into one Canyon school, said Dee Brown, a former state representative and longtime teacher in the Canyon’s schools. The schools even considered building on a central location.

Then, in the mid-1980s, a fire destroyed the West Glacier School building.

“The world changed when West Glacier School burned,” Brown said.

Rather than moving forward with consolidation, West Glacier residents decided to rebuild their school and secede from Columbia Falls to form their own school district.

When that happened, the remaining Canyon schools “decided it was best to combine and build one nice, new facility in Hungry Horse,” said Brown, who was teaching at Hungry Horse at the time.

Voters in the school district agreed, and plans moved forward for a new school building next to the old Hungry Horse School. The U.S. Forest Service had donated that land decades earlier, Brown said, and services like water and sewer were already in place.

But support for the new school wasn’t unanimous. Some Canyon residents hated the idea of consolidation, Brown said.

“Losing their local school was like losing their ... promise for the future,” she said.

As a supporter of consolidation, Brown was a target. She had to call the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office after receiving death threats over the phone in the middle of the night.

Eventually, however, the hubbub subsided, and the Canyon communities came to embrace their common school.

“Once people put their arms around it, it became our school, not the Hungry Horse school,” Brown said.

Nicolette Bales was a third-grader when the new school opened in 1988. She had spent her first elementary years at school in Martin City and was a little in awe of the new facility.

“There were a lot more kids, way more kids,” she said.

Once she got used to going to school with 240 students, Bales said she enjoyed her time as a Canyon Elementary student — so much so that she was determined to get back to Hungry Horse as a teacher.

Bales moved from Helena to East Evergreen Elementary and finally landed her dream job four years ago. She now teaches first grade and is Canyon School’s co-head teacher.

Tyler Jones also is a student-turned-teacher. He spent all his elementary years at Canyon and was hired at the school right out of college four years ago.

“This was the first job I applied for,” he said.

Enrollment is much smaller now than it was when Bales and Jones attended Canyon Elementary. When the school opened, there were 237 students enrolled, said Kristin Kavanagh, who has been the school’s secretary for as long as it has been in operation.

In Canyon Elementary’s early years, enrollment climbed, peaking at 247, she said. Some classrooms were so crowded that the district asked for volunteers to attend school in town for a couple of years. About 11 Canyon students took the bus to school in Columbia Falls.

The school district offered to let those who wanted to return go back to Canyon Elementary once more space opened up, Kavanagh said.

“Some came back. Some didn’t,” she said.

Two years later, the district decided to move its sixth-graders out of the elementary schools and into a junior high setting. The decision didn’t sit well with many Canyon residents, Kavanagh recalled.

“A lot of people did not want that. They went kicking and screaming to that,” she said.

But students adjusted, and life continued at Canyon Elementary, although over the years, enrollment began to decline. As student numbers dropped, so did funding from the state.

Increasingly tight budgets led to the school board’s decision to close Canyon Elementary at the end of the 2010-11 school year. Trustees hoped the closure would alleviate elementary budget deficits.

But the closure will have other costs.

Canyon residents adjusted to having one school and sending their sixth-graders to school in town, but Kavanagh said she didn’t think they would adjust to their school’s closure.

“It won’t happen here. This school has been such a vital part of this community,” she said.

But the Canyon community will continue, just as it always does, Brown said.

“The community gets by,” she said. “I think our community is pretty resilient.”