HomeMy WebLinkAboutHARMONY SCHOOL SHOPS PUD, FIRST FILING - FINAL - 42-89F - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCE•
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Preschool
adds life
to Harmony
building
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By JILL SAITO N V q
The Coloradoan I
A Christian preschool has
brought children's footsteps
and laughter back into the
Harmony School on the cor-
ner of Harmony and Tim-
berline roads.
The historic 66-year-old
school sat empty for years
until operators of Heritage
Christian Preschool re-
opened it in September as
Harmony School Christian
Early Childhood Center.
"You look at this building
and think, That old school
should be used for some-
thing,"' said Harmony
School director Cathy
Hutchison. "We walked in
and said, This is us.'"
The preschool program
had outgrown the space it
shared with Heritage Chris-
tian School at First Baptist
Church, 901 E. Lake St., so
the move made sense.
In the 1970s, Harmony
School was used by Poudre
School District as an alter-
native school and later as
storage until it was sold to a
private investor about six
years ago.
Hutchison started looking
at the school as a possible
site last year.
Currently, 125 students
ages 3 to 5 attend Harmony
School either two or three
days a week. The building
has space for 300 kids, but
Hutchison plans to stay
small with about 140.
"We probably won't get too
much larger because we like
to stay connected with our
families," she said.
The brick schoolhouse has
undergone $2 million in ren-
ovations, which includes
purchase of the land by a
private donor. An 8,500-
square-foot addition was
built onto the school to
house a full-size kitchen and
gymnasium large enough for
high school basketball and
volleyball games.
But residents who went to
the school when it opened in
the 1930s can still walk into
the schoolhouse and see the
original wood floors, banis-
ters and classrooms.
"I think it's absolutely gor-
geous," said Sharon Baever-
stad as she waited for her 3-
year-old daughter, Kathryn,
and 4-year-old son, Brett, to
finish class. "The halls are
just filled with a lot of laugh-
ter and a lot of love."
Photos of Harmony School
when it operated as a neigh-
borhood school in the 1930s
hang on the walls and anti-
que desks, toys and chairs
give the school an old-
fashioned feel.
With more space, Hutchi-
son plans to offer more pro-
grams such as a support
group for mothers aiid pa-
renting classes. Also, the
gymnasium gives the school
more flexibility when plan-
ning indoor activities and
holiday programs, she said.