.....On busy Highway 85 in western Douglas County, known as Santa Fe to Denver residents, stands the modern brick Gann School. Although it is no longer used to educate Douglas County's youth, the building remains active as offices for a business. It stands as a reminder of the consolidation of the Douglas County Schools into the modern Douglas County RE-1 District.

.....The brick building, the last Gann School, was built in 1950. It was two stories tall, with three rooms upstairs and a large entrance hall. The walls were painted in green and yellow, with green chalkboards, acoustic tile, an oil furnace, and windows positioned so that natural light falls over the left shoulder of all the students. The school featured florescent lights, a basement room "which could be used as an auditorium," and a ktichen with a three compartment sink, electric stove and cupboards for use in the hot lunch program. The building was designed by Raymond Heyl, the son of a local resident. labor for the sewer and heating systems, as well as the pump house, were donated by local residents. Classes at Gann began in 1951. Gann was touted as having "an eye to the future" of consolidation of the Douglas County Schools, and even invited other rural schools to merge with District No. 4 into its new building. Platte Canyon (District 19) appears to have taken up the offer, with the new district designated as #50. However, the Gann School was closed in 1956 despite the consolidation of Platte Canyon. It was decided that it was cheaper to bus the children to another school, (probably Sedalia) rather than pay for the upkeep and staffing of Gann.

.....The first Gann School was a "little one room building, with a small red barn which set out in the prairie with a barbed wire fence around it." The school grounds would probably look quite barren to modern students: there was no playground, trees or grass, no telephones, electricity, or running water, there was, however, a really good view of the mountains. Between 17 and 20 pupils attended Gann at a time, and children attended from Indian Creek, Kellytown and Louviers (until the school was built there.) Gann or Kelly's school, as it was known, was a wooden building, built in either 1879 (according to Our Heritage: People of Douglas County ) or 1909 (according to the site survey for the Colorado Historic Preservation board.) An eighth grade graduation program from 1900 shows three students from "Kelly's."

.... Carl Schneider, who attended the Kelly's or Gann School recalls:

"I attended Gann for my first and second grades in 1937 and 1938. I remember a red brick building with a white frame section on the east end. Heat was provided by a large black stove. The school faced west looking toward highway 85 and the AT&SF railway tracks. I believe the building burned and the present one was then built. In the northwest corner of the property there was a stable to accommodate students or teachers with horses. The privies were up the hill in the southeast corner. Miss Grace Lamb was the teacher. She made a trip to Alaska and brought each student a small souvenir. Mine is a mitten."

.....The first Kelly's/Gann School was sold and moved to "the Johns place" about one half mile north of the settlement of Gann. The older school was moved early in 1999 to an unknown location.