I thought since school will be starting up soon, I would share some interesting information about the history of our local public schools. Enjoy! Bonnie / July 2022
The Patagonia high school students attended high school in Nogales, the only high school in the county. (I believe that they had to take the train to go to school). However, in 1925 the Patagonia School trustees voted to hire a teacher for two years to help students complete their last two years in Patagonia. Santa Cruz County selected Patagonia as the site for a new high school, but the voters rejected a bond issue to build the new school. They eventually approved leasing the unfinished (no information on what was considered unfinished) Methodist Church building. Classes started on September 8,1926 after necessary remodeling. Then in 1927 the first Patagonia High School opened. (This date disagrees with other information regarding the opening of the High School.)
(Sources: The Journal of Arizona History (1995) and “and then there was Patagonia” by Louise Stevens Easley.