Hayman School
Established in 1898, the town of Hayman emerged as a modest but industrious settlement in the South Park region, nestled about a mile west of Tarryall Road on what is now Forest Service Road 208. Built to support nearby mining, logging, and ranching operations—especially the Apex Copper Company, which remained active into the 1920s—Hayman boasted the essential elements of a frontier town despite its small population. At its peak, the town included a post office, two mercantile stores, a saloon, boardinghouse, blacksmith shop, lumber dealer, surveyor, and ice dealer. However, with fewer than 40 residents, Hayman’s economy struggled to sustain itself. By 1911, the decline of mining operations and dwindling demand for local resources triggered the gradual disappearance of its businesses and services.[1]
Education, however, remained a priority for the town’s residents. That same year Hayman was platted, a one-room schoolhouse was constructed, reportedly built by the father of Emil Warling. Emil and his siblings were among the first students to attend, and the school quickly became the center of educational and social life for the scattered families in the area. Years later, Emil would marry Daisy Wood, a young teacher who had once taught at the Hayman School, further intertwining their lives with the legacy of the community. As the population declined and families moved away, the schoolhouse was relocated in 1917 to a new site along Tarryall Road, likely in response to shifting demographics and the need to better serve the remaining students. Even after the town’s post office closed in 1918—a marker of Hayman’s official decline—the schoolhouse continued to operate, with Daisy (Wood) Warling serving as its last teacher until 1941.[2]
By the mid-20th century, the widespread consolidation of rural schools across Colorado reached Hayman. In 1966, the schoolhouse was moved a final time to its current location, where it remains a recognizable landmark, distinguished by its bright red exterior.[3] Though the original town of Hayman has all but vanished, the schoolhouse endures on private ranch land, preserved as a rare and meaningful link to the past.[4] Its survival speaks to the resilience of early frontier communities, the enduring value placed on education, and the adaptability of families who continued to support schooling in the face of economic uncertainty and geographic isolation. Today, the Hayman Schoolhouse stands as a quiet yet powerful symbol of a once-thriving mountain community shaped by hard work, perseverance, and the hope for a better future through learning.
[1] “National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form,” United States Department of Interior National Park Service, March 1992, 1–40, https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2017/627.pdf.
[2] Park County Local History Archives, Tarryall Road: Tour Guide, 2016, 75.
[3] Park County Local History Archives, Tarryall Road: Tour Guide, 2016, 75.
[4] Park County Local History Archives, Images of America: Park County (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2015), 97.