{"id":21260,"date":"2025-07-25T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-city-council-approves-historic-designation-for-manaugh-elementary-school\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:04:42","slug":"cortez-city-council-approves-historic-designation-for-manaugh-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-city-council-approves-historic-designation-for-manaugh-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez City Council approves historic designation for Manaugh Elementary School"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manaugh
Manaugh Elementary on the south side of Cortez faces a vote to close the school. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

At their meeting Tuesday, the Cortez City Council unanimously approved granting historic designation to the Manaugh Elementary School building, 300 E. Fourth St., on its second reading. With this decision, Manaugh will be added to the city\u2019s Register of Historic Resources for its architectural and cultural significance.<\/p>\n

At the May 22 Montezuma-Cortez school board meeting, Cortez Historic Preservation board members Linda Towle and Community and Economic Development specialist Helen West discussed granting the historical designation. After the meeting, the district submitted an application to the Historic Preservation Board, which unanimously recommended City Council approval.<\/p>\n

Manaugh Elementary was built in 1955 and served as an elementary school until its closure in the summer of 2022. It was one of six schools built between 1948 and 1960, according to a presentation to the City Council by the city\u2019s Community and Economic Development Director Rachael Marchbanks, and marked the post-World War II baby boom and the local oil boom in Cortez during that time.<\/p>\n

Additions were added in 1957 and 1987. Chapter 7, Section 4 of the city\u2019s land use code notes the building\u2019s qualifications for the historical designation because of its brick construction, glass block windows and prominent bay entryway, among other distinctions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this particular criteria, we believe it has historical, cultural \u2026 it meets that criteria,\u201d Marchbanks said. \u201cIn the general criteria, it retains the original design, features, materials and\/or character. It is in the original location or same historic context, and it has not been moved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchbanks noted that the building\u2019s inclusion on the register does not restrict the district from altering or demolishing the building, but significant changes could lead to its removal from the register. The designation allows for state historic preservation tax credits and grants through the State Historical Fund.<\/p>\n

Marchbanks added that district Superintendent Tom Burris couldn\u2019t attend the meeting. Karen Sheek, who said she was working on the project, said the district is interested in repurposing the building into affordable housing units for teachers.<\/p>\n

Sheek noted that a recent survey conducted by the district revealed that affordable housing would help staff retention. The historic designation could also help secure grants to help fund an affordable housing project.<\/p>\n

Afteer Sheek\u2019s comments, the City Council passed the historic designation for unanimously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

school is being considered for affordable housing for teachers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,155,28,2165,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-manaugh-elementary","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77233,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21260\/revisions\/77233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21260"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}