Flagstaff's First Elementary School

Flagstaff opened its first elementary school here in the fall of 1883. City leaders chose the location for the one-room "barnlike" structure to be close to parents working at the Ayer Lumber Company's mill and to distance the school from the saloons north of the tracks.

The district hired Eva Marshall as the school's first teacher. Though the school lacked funding, community donations paid Marshall's salary in its first few years. Supporters included the Ashurst family, for whom Ashurt Auditorium is named.

The "log hut schoolhouse" remained Flagstaff's sole elementary school for thirteen years before enrollment outgrew it. In 1895, the town built the much-larger Emerson School where the Flagstaff Public Library now stands. In 1902, the old schoolhouse became the Flagstaff Electric Light Company, managed by George Herrington, who built his own house next door. When the electric company moved out, the building became a laundry facility until Northern Arizona Normal School demolished it to make room for the new Teacher Training School, now the Blome Building.