If you’ve ever wondered what school looked like at the turn of the 20th century, there’s no need for a time machine.
A drive through Paradise Valley to Pine Creek School, south of Livingston, offers a glimpse into Montana’s educational past.
Taylor Neibauer teaches kindergarten through second grade at this rural Montana school.
"I have 13 students right now," she said, noting that this is her third year at Pine Creek.
See how communities are working to save their small schools:
Pine Creek School is one of roughly 100 still active rural schoolhouses in Montana, more than any other state in the nation.
Most serve rural farming and ranching communities who live across the state, with 58 million acres of land devoted to agriculture.
“It’s way better for kids who have short attention spans because when they’re with me, we’re going and going and going,” said Neibauer.
However, these schools are dwindling. Montana once had upwards of 2,600 one-room schools; today, that number is around 50.
Despite the decline, Eli Smith, with Preserve Montana, shared that when one door closes, another door opens.
His organization is dedicated to saving and repurposing these rural schools.
"We let the schoolhouse talk to us and tell us what it needs,” Smith explained.
On a recent day, Smith and his team assessed an old one-room school in Sixteen, Montana, during a preservation workshop.
"Every different use creates a different structure, a different need for restoration," Smith noted.
Sixteen, which is now more or less a ghost town, was once a thriving community located about 30 miles south of White Sulphur Springs.
Gaida Hobby Martin and her sister Pamela Ann Hobby Zimmerman spent their summers in Sixteen and now own the old schoolhouse, having inherited the land from their parents.
“It is so nostalgic because we got to live something we couldn’t provide children today,” Gaida said.
The pair reminisced about their childhood memories tied to the schoolhouse, with Martin recalling, “I can absolutely imagine when I close my eyes…”
She reflected on the discarded books and desks, remnants of better days, saying, “All of our memories are still here and touchable.”
This emotional connection drives their push to restore the building to its former glory.
“Our dream felt like a pipe dream because you tell someone you want to restore a ghost town, and they look at you like… are you sure?” Gaida shared.
Since its inception several decades ago, Preserve Montana has documented 812 one- or two-room schoolhouses across the state and aims to preserve as many as possible by helping secure grants and training crews in preservation techniques.
Gaida and Pam hope to transform the schoolhouse into a retreat venue and invite schools to visit:
“Let’s hop on a school bus and go back in time and see what it was really like to go to school in the 1920s and ‘30’s,” said Gaida.
School as it once was, and even still is today, in much of rural Montana.
“If there were more rural schools across the state, I think it would solve a lot of the problems with education right now,” said Neibauer.
