Editing Las Animas, Colorado (section)

==Education==
[[Image:Columbian Elementary School.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Columbian Elementary School (1916), photographed 2005]]
{{anchor|Columbian Elementary School}}
;Columbian Elementary School
Built in 1916 to replace the old Columbian School (1887), Columbian Elementary School was the only building of [[Spanish architecture]] style in Las Animas. It was also the only open-courtyard school in the state of Colorado. In 2004, it was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] because of its significance, and, needing renovation for continued use, it was on the 2004 Colorado Preservation, Inc. List of Endangered Places.<ref name="NPS"/><ref name="Mestas"/><ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/NRSR/5BN381_%28delisted%29.pdf |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Columbian Elementary School |access-date=December 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728204758/http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/NRSR/5BN381_(delisted).pdf |archive-date=July 28, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=endangerlist>{{cite web|url=http://coloradopreservation.org/programs/endangered-places/endangered-places-archives/ |title=Endangered Places Archive |publisher=Colorado Preservation, Inc.}}</ref> As attempts were made to preserve the building, a modern facility was built to the west, inhabiting what was the playground and open area for the now demolished original structure. Though it was evaluated by outside sources as being unfit for the building's intended use, the city hired a demolition firm to remove the materials, though it was found to have had asbestos in the building materials, and from residents who witnessed the structure fall, there was only minimal containment.

Considered by the School Board and all but a handful of citizens to be too costly to renovate, this 90-year-old building was demolished on February 21, 2006.<ref name="Mestas">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928001924/http://www.chieftain.com/print.php?article=%2Fmetro%2F1140875593%2F10 Mestas, Anthony A. "Old Columbian school falls to wrecker's ball"], ''The Pueblo Chieftain'', February 25, 2006</ref> Following demolition, the school was delisted on July 26, 2006.<ref name="NPS">[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/listings/20060804.HTM "Columbian Elementary School, Las Animas"], National Park Service</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.historycolorado.org/archaeologists/properties-removed-state-and-national-registers#bent |title=Colorado Historical Society description of removal |access-date=December 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705230127/http://www.historycolorado.org/archaeologists/properties-removed-state-and-national-registers#bent |archive-date=July 5, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The city constructed a new elementary school just west of the old school location.