Throwback Thursday: Edgewater High School

Have you ever driven by the Edgewater Plaza on 24th and Eaton and wondered what the older building to the south of the tall apartments once was? The older building is one of the last remnants of Edgewater High School.

The Edgewater High School story begins in 1901 when a brick schoolhouse was built at 24th and Eaton which included first through 8th grades. Then in 1912 a second story was added to this school. The population in Edgewater grew so much that in 1924, a new structure was built on Eaton with two more rooms, a basement and a new assembly hall. Then in 1937 a gymnasium was added thanks to a WPA grant. You can still see this gymnasium on the south side of what is now the Edgewater Plaza. The first class to graduate the new Edgewater High School was in 1937. Edgewater High School had some very successful basketball teams winning the state championship in 1935, 1941, and 1952.

In 1955, rival schools Mountair High School and Edgewater High School were combined by Jefferson County Schools. Grades 10-12 met at the former Edgewater High School at 24th and Eaton. Grades 7-9 were moved to the old Mountair High School at 1500 Chase Street in Lakewood which was converted to Belmont Junior High.

Jefferson High School continued the excellent basketball tradition that started at Edgewater High School by having an undefeated basketball season and winning state in 1957. The new Jefferson High School at 24th and Pierce opened in 1958.

Recently longtime Edgewater resident and Edgewater High School graduate Bill Bossert shared this information with us on how these Edgewater High School students still get together:

On July 15th I was chairman of the Edgewater H.S. reunion held at the Lakewood Elks Lodge at 1455 Newland. This is an event that is held about every 4 years and consists of everyone who ever attended E.H.S. from the first graduating class in 1937 up until 1955, my class, the last graduating class of E.H.S. before the merger with Mountair H.S. to form Jefferson H..S. We included the Jefferson classes of 1956 – 1959 as they were attending E.H.S. prior to the merger.

We had a total attendance, alumni and guests, of 141 from as far away as Wisconsin, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. Included were ex teachers and mayors of Edgewater. It was indeed a very successful and wonderful event, further testifying to the tight knit and very unique comradeship our school had.

In addition, we continue to have a reunion luncheon every other month at the American Legion in Edgewater for those who still reside in the area. This function
usually gathers around 20 – 30 people.

We will be attending the next meetup of this group and hope to share more stories like this from Edgewater’s past.

Sources:

• Edgewater’s Golden Anniversary History Book (1951)
• Edgewater: Four Score by Judith Allison (1979)
• Edgewater Colorado: A Centennial Celebration by Celora Jean Jones and Connie Jo Fox (2001)

Joel Newton

Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.