On September 24, 1934, a fire burnt down the first Fruita Union High School, which was located on South Maple Street in the Reed Park block. The fire began on the roof. All students and teachers escaped the building in time, and no one was hurt. Students were able to grab musical instruments and some athletic equipment, but had to leave the school’s new textbooks behind. Though it was worried that the fire, which came from unknown origins, would spread to other buildings, firefighters responding from Fruita and Grand Junction were largely able to keep it from doing so.
The school was built in 1904. Prior to that time, high school students took classes in the Fruita Central School. A new school, funded by bond and grant and built with WPA labor, was built and opened in Fall 1936 at 239 North Maple.
*Some information for this history comes from In the Beginning... A History of the Districts and Schools that Became Mesa County Valley School District Number 51 by Albert and Terry LaSalle.
