Volume 11 , Issue 4

Cimarron County High School - 1919-1932

It was ten years after the repeal of the county high school law, when the Legislature enacted new legislation, strictly designed to meet the needs of one county ... Cimarron County in the extreme end of the Oklahoma panhandle.

Cimarron had a small, sparse population, scattered over the entire area. No town had immediate prospects of supporting an accredited high school. The few youth who were getting secondary education attended the preparatory department of Panhandle Agricultural college more than 30 miles distant from the nearest Cimarron County home or went outside the county.

Senate Bill 32 became law march 29, 1919. It provided for county high schools in all counties having scholastic population of less than 2,000 persons. The 1920 census showed for Cimarron county a population was below 2,000.

The county commissioners, without a vote of the electors, appointed a Board of Trustees, with power to organize and operate a county high school with a maximum tax rate of one mill on the dollar of assessed evaluation. Each commissioner selected two trustees at the beginning, these six serving with the county superintendent. Afterwards, the trustees were elected by the three commissioner districts, two from each. They were empowered either to build or rent for the needs of the school.

School began in September, 1919 in two rooms of the new frame building of the Boise City district. principal Eugene Smith, was assisted by another teacher, instructing 24 pupils, including 11 in the eighth grade, six in the ninth, five in the tenth and two in the eleventh. After 2 or 3 years, the eighth grade was transferred to the Boise City schools, and was no longer supported by county-wide tax. Enrollment grew, reaching at least 150 in the last year that the school operated, with graduating classes with as many as 15 members.

Additional room was leased in the Boise City school building as the staff grew to five. The pupils had an academic curriculum, designed mainly for college entrance. The class of 1921 included the two boys who had enrolled as juniors when the school opened.

Of the fifteen graduating in 1928, nine entered college, including those who went to business schools. Sapnish was taught for two units, offered most of the years, as was home economics, for two units. Agriculture and manual training had small offerings in only a few years. Business subjects drew heavily.

October, 1925 saw the building of the first railroad through Cimarron county, the last county to be reached by railroad. In five years, Boise City population tripled and new towns sprang up over the county asking for accreditation of their high school beginnings.

In 1932, many accredited schools were not willing to pay tax to support their local high school and the county school at Boise City, voluntarily closed in 1932, after thirteen years of service to the county.

Three men served as principal of Cimarron County High School: Eugene Smith, for eight years; Joe R. Crew, for 1 year; and Walker E. Hubbard, for the last four years. Hubbard then became Boise City superintendent.
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