The History of The McClelland School

A group of Pueblo citizens met on January 10, 1905, to discuss the establishment of a home for dependent children. This group called themselves the Protestant Orphanage Committee. The result of this meeting was an orphanage sponsored by the group and operated by the Deaconesses of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The facility was located in a cottage at 1104 East Routt.

This facility consisted of four small rooms containing as many as nine beds per room. A tent was set up to be used as a boys’ dormitory to further expand the facility. Due to the increased numbers, larger, permanent quarters were necessary.

Andrew McClelland, a prominent local businessman, offered a three-story building, formerly a Southern Methodist Church college, to the committee for $5,000. In addition, $2,500 was included to make any needed repairs to the structure. A fund-raiser provided the needed funds to complete the deal.

The McClelland Orphanage was opened on April 25, 1906. Located at the corner of Lake Avenue and Abriendo, this three-story building was designed to house as many as 65 children. It was considered one of the best institutions of its kind in the country. By 1908, the building was filled to capacity. The orphanage was forced to turn deserving children away. The annual operating budget had reached $6,000 for sheltering the children. Fundraising efforts fell short of their goal to provide the needed capital to make additions to the facility. A donation of property valued at $10,000 was presented to the orphanage by Mrs. Lizzie Welsh of Los Angeles, California. Plans for the addition were started.

The institution struggled to stay financially solvent for the next fourteen years. Fundraising consisted of proceeds from guest speakers, contributions of money, and food and clothing from the community. McClelland Orphanage managed to maintain its reputation of operating on a cash basis and received positive comments from the local community.

The original aim of the organization had been to keep the individual character of the child alive, in spite of the necessary regimentation of group living. The children wore their own clothing, attended public schools and churches of their choice and, in later years, participated in Scouting and various individual pursuits.

During the years of 1917 through 1920, the connections between the Orphanage and the Deaconesses group were dissolved. They had faithfully served the home for over ten years. The necessity of hiring new salaried personnel created an additional hardship on the already strained budget. In November 1923, the load was lightened by the creation of the Community Chest. While additional funds were still necessary, it was becoming possible for part of the outside income from donations to be used as capital investment to create a trust fund.

In October 1927, the name of the organization was amended to the McClelland Children’s Home. At this same time, the qualifications for membership of the Directors were also changed to state that the affairs and management shall be under control of a majority of the Board of Directors who are members in good standing of some Protestant Church in the city of Pueblo, Colorado. The qualifications were originally limited to membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The number of directors was reduced from twenty-seven to twenty-one.

Plans for a new building to replace the original structure were started in 1932. In order to proceed with these plans in the years of the Depression, it became necessary to liquidate most of the holdings of the Home. This, together with a generous donation of $25,000 from the Pueblo Rotary Club, provided the necessary funds. The building was started in July 1934 and opened the following year. There were very few changes made at the orphanage until the late 1960s when, as child welfare programs were established and the need for orphanages decreased, the Trustees began to redirect the focus toward the diagnosis and evaluation of the learning processes of children.

In 1973, The McClelland Center for Child Study was created under the direction of Dr. Mildred Bebell. The building was redecorated inside and out. The first full year of the program was 1975 when the Center received a special grant to operate a preschool program for four-year olds to determine if, by early detection, potential learning disabilities could be identified. This grant was in effect until 1977 and was conducted in conjunction with School District 60.

The operation of the Basic Diagnostic Program for young children led to the realization that there was a real need in Pueblo for a quality, curriculum-based preschool program and one was established at the Center.

The Center continued to respond to the changing educational needs in Pueblo and extended its program into the elementary ages. By 1979, a core group of 20 children were enrolled from kindergarten through the third grade and plans were made to expand the age level through the fifth grade. For the next fifteen years, the School settled into its preschool/elementary structure and, as enrollment increased, a gymnasium and a six-classroom addition were added to the building. To better represent its Independent School mission, a change in name from The McClelland Center for Child Study to The McClelland School was made in 1994.

Also in 1994, after several years of research and a growing expression of need by the community, the Board of Trustees voted to add a Middle School Program. The middle school opened in the 1995-96 term with 14 students. A capital fund campaign to raise the money necessary to renovate the old orphanage carriage house and create a separate facility for the middle school was begun. Reconstructive work on the building took place during the 1996-97 term and the entire middle school (grades 5 through 8) now occupies the building as their primary classroom space.