Como School
The Como School stands as an iconic example of a rural Montana schoolhouse while reflecting the Bitterroot Valley’s early twentieth-century educational development. The Como community, named after nearby Lake Como, developed around Wilson B. Harlan’s 1860s-era farm. In 1882, residents built the first Como School on the east side of the road. By the late 1890s, many new families had settled in the area. This growth, along with statewide efforts to improve public education, spurred construction of a new Como School in 1902. Frank and Mary Cook donated the land for the school and the school board chose plans following “best school design practices” of the period. A single band of windows on the north wall avoided “cross lighting,” which experts believed harmed pupils’ eyes; this left two large walls for slate blackboards. Two, three-seat outhouses, served boys and girls respectively, and a small “teacherage” provided a home for the mostly female teachers. Carpenters added a gabled cloakroom with a bell tower to the front of the school in 1910-11. The addition provided separate classroom entrances for boys and girls. When it was time to install the heavy school bell, the students hoisted it into the tower. Approximately twenty to forty students, ages six to eighteen, attended the school each year. The building also hosted parties, debates, plays, church services, and meetings. The school closed in 1921 as a result of school consolidation in the Bitterroot Valley after World War I. Since then, the school has served as a community center and decades of stewardship have preserved the facility.