Ralston Community Clubhouse - Ralston, WY - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

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Ralston Community Clubhouse - Ralston, WY

in U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 668858 N 4954007

Built in 1914 as a one room schoolhouse and for many years a community hall or clubhouse, this little wood framed building is now a private residence.

Having read the NRHP Registration Form for the one time school before travelling to Wyoming, we were under the impression that this was still the Ralston Community Clubhouse when we arrived in Ralston. The sign in front of the building said so. So, after taking some photos of the exterior, we walked up onto the wood deck and opened the door to enter "The Clubhouse". Imagine our surprise on finding a young girl, six or seven years of age, sitting at the kitchen table with some books. She looked up from her books and, quite unconcerned, said "Hi" as we fumbled, stammered and stuttered an impromptu explanation for our presence in her kitchen. We quickly apologized for the intrusion, bid her adieu and beat a hasty retreat! Whoda thunk that this was now a private residence?

In 1914 the citizens of Ralston build this one room schoolhouse which remained in use as a school until 1922, at which time Ralston consolidated its school with the neighboring Powell school district. Apparently unused until 1930, in that year it was given to the Ralston Community Club, becoming a community clubhouse. In 1951 a kitchen and, we assume, indoor plumbing, were added to the west end of the building. Also in that year the belfry and bell were removed and donated to the Presbyterian church in Powell. The building remained in use as a clubhouse until sometime after 2000, at which time it was sold into private hands and converted to a residence.

Ralston Community Clubhouse

Architectural Classification: Hipped-roof one-room schoolhouse

The Ralston Clubhouse building has served as the clubhouse for the Ralston Community Club since 1930. It was originally constructed as a schoolhouse in 1914 by members of the community. It is a simple, one-story, hipped-roof building of wood frame construction with an enclosed entry vestibule and a gabled-roof addition. It is located on a small rise on the northwest edge of the town of Ralston, Wyoming. The building is surrounded by a residential area to the east and west and pasture to the north.

Since 1930, it has continuously served as the Ralston Community Club Clubhouse. In a region of distances and isolation, the clubhouse has brought women and their families together to share in each other lives and that of the community.

The town of Ralston, situated on Powell Flats, was on the eastern edge of the Garland Unit of the Shoshone Irrigation Project that opened for homesteading in November 1907. The region was a "sagebrush and cactus covered desert" when 276 farms were homesteaded at the first opening of the project. The town of Ralston grew with the influx of settlers to the region and functioned as the service center for the homesteaders. By 1913, Ralston businesses included a pool hall, saloon, general store, lumber company, taxidermy shop and a hardware store. In 1914, the Ralston school house (now the clubhouse) was constructed by local citizens. By the 1920s, settlement slowed and in 1922, the Ralston school consolidated with the Powell district which led to the abandonment of the Ralston school building (PCSC 1980:17). In 1930, the Powell School District offered the Ralston school property to the Ralston Community Club, answering a dream of the club since its inception in 1919.
From the NRHP Registration Form