One hundred years ago the Elgin/Patagonia/Sonoita area had 13 school districts providing education for grades 1-8: Alto, Canelo, Elgin, Harshaw, Lochiel, Mowry, Patagonia, Parker Canyon, Rain Valley, Red Rock, Sonoita, Vaughn and Washington Camp. The only high school in Santa Cruz County was in Nogales. In January 1926 the majority of the district trustees and more than 100 qualified voters signed petitions for the formation of a union high school district. “If you want a Union High School in the upper part of the county so you will not have to send your children away from home to complete their education, see to it that you get to the polls and vote ‘yes’ on the ballot.” [Santa Cruz Patagonian, 1/26/1926].
An election was held in each school district on February 6, 1926, and the establishment of a Union High School was approved by a two-to-one margin.
Voters next selected Patagonia over Sonoita as the site for the new high school. [The Border Vidette, 3/6/1926].
In May, voters were asked to approve a $12,000 bond to rent and equip the high school—that measure was defeated by a vote of 100 against and 75 for. The Board of Education of Patagonia Union High School (PUHS) informed the public that funds for the school would now have to be raised by taxation. Their letter of explanation noted: “It was the intention of this Board, if the bond issue had carried, to lease the unfinished Methodist Church building from the trustees. The school would have the use of an excellent building for seven years for the mere cost of finishing the building. This building would have well filled our present needs.
With the balance of the money the Board intended to purchase ten acres for a future building site and improve a small plot of this ground for farm shop work and to purchase necessary school equipment and supplies.” [Nogales International, 5/23/1926].
PUHS opened in the Patagonia Methodist Church in September 1926 with 33 students and three teachers. Ralph H. Zimmerman was the principal, athletic coach, and taught history and science. Mr. Gibbs taught manual training and Miss Sadie Perley taught English and home economics. [Tucson Citizen, 9/16/1926]. Four students comprised the first graduating class: Grace Douglas, Beth Fortune, Vernon Lewis, and Fidel Valenzuela.
By 1927 PUHS was occupying its own small building on the east side of Duquesne, just south of Third Ave. The Patagonia Opera House was used for dances, plays, and graduation ceremonies. The faculty had grown to five and six students graduated in 1928.
The student newspaper (The Mesquite) published an account of the Class of 1930—the first to attend all four years at PUHS. In 1926, 13 freshmen enrolled; by 1930 only five graduated: William Anderson, Margaret Fortune, Charles Thompson, Doris Seibold and Mignon Stevens. [Nogales International, 5/27/1930].
In 1932, area voters were asked: “Shall the Patagonia Union High School be discontinued?” [Nogales International, 7/16/1932]. The final tally was 199 for retention; 133 against.
In 1948 voters approved a $53,000 bond to build a new PUHS campus on leased Federal land on the northwest side of Hwy 82, where PUHS is located today. Two surplus Army buildings from Ft. Huachuca were purchased and transported by truck to serve as classrooms and a gymnasium. [Arizona Daily Star, 12/18/1948].
During the renovation 100 letters were discovered between the walls of one of the buildings. “Patagonia Postmaster Woody Gatlin dispatched the letters as if they were only [just] mailed…” [Tucson Citizen, 11/9/1949].
The PUHS Class of 1950 was the first to graduate from the new school: Rosemary Ashburn, Evelyn Bercich, Billy Combs, Trini Cota, Martha Corrales, Alfredo De La Ossa, Frances Garcia, Maxine Razee, Lorenzo Torres and Wade Walsh.
Alison Bunting can be contacted at alisbunting@gmail.com