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The Homestead Act of 1862 made millions of acres of unoccupied land
in the Southwest available to settlers. By the turn of the century,
the only land that remained available to settlers was within Arizona
and New Mexico. One individual that accepted the challenge and settled
in New Mexico was a Congregational minister named Rev. Wannamaker. This
individual started a village in 1906 named Amistad, in eastern New Mexico.
He inspired numerous religious leaders to settle in the area by placing
ads for immigrants in religious periodicals. The religious settlers
that responded included Methodists, Presbyterians, and United Brethren.
A few years later, a young United Brethren minister from Kansas named
Rev. Clarence Schlotterbeck arrived in the area to visit his parents.
He was invited to visit the community of Amistad and he opened a mission
field in the area.
Rev. Schlotterbeck was soon appointed by the Home Mission Board in Dayton,
Ohio as "United Brethren Mission Superintendent for the Southwest."
He was to organize churches in areas without churches or pastors. And
with the authority to establish denominational churches throughout the
area. The efforts of Rev. Schlotterbeck resulted in the establishment
of what became known as the North Texas Conference.
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The second meeting of the North Texas Conference was attended by Mellie
Perkins. According to meeting minutes, Mellie Perkins was the Dumas,
Texas representative. In the spring of 1910, Rev. Schlotterbeck went
on a difficult journey on horseback across the Sangre De Cristo mountains
and into the Rio Grande Valley. He believed that on his journey he could
encounter United Brethren people lost from their churches and living
in the valley. As Rev. Schlotterbeck traveled through the upper Rio
Grande valley, he discovered that it was Spanish-speaking territory
and that numerous "Anglos" and Spanish people lived in the
area without religious services.
Approximately three months later, he returned to Amistad and reported
his trip with encouragement to evangelize the area. His message resulted
in a donation of $1000 dollars from Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hauser to establish
work in the Velarde, New Mexico area. His message also resulted in an
offer from Mellie Perkins to go to work in the northern Rio Grande Valley
area. Mellie Perkins arrived in Velarde on October 12, 1912 on what
was now mission property. The area was described as having a "dilapidated"
appearance.
After a lot of repair work and landscaping, the Velarde Mission School
opened on October 21 with 4 pupils and ended in May with 43. At the
end of the school's first year, it was clear that Miss Perkins and the
Velarde Mission School would be in need of additional personnel. During
the 1913-1914 school year, Miss Bessie Haffner of Illinois joined Miss
Perkins at the Velarde Mission School. Records indicate that Miss Haffner remained with the
school until 1916. In 1915 Miss Perkins moved from Velarde to the Santa
Cruz area to open the Santa Cruz Mission School on October 11, 1915.
The new school started with a total of 8 students.
Before arriving in Velarde in 1912, Miss Perkins has attended Campbell
College in Holton, Kansas to prepare for her work in Velarde, New Mexico.
A portion of her time was spent studying the Spanish language under
the instruction of a young woman named Edith McCurdy. She and Miss Perkins
became friends and the following year "she wrote an encouraging
letter and sent money for the mission work." In the summer of 1912,
Miss McCurdy traveled home to Pennsylvania to visit her family where
she became ill and died suddenly. Her grieving father donated $1000
to Santa Cruz Mission in her memory. The first mission building in Santa
Cruz was dedicated in November of 1915 and was named the Edith M. McCurdy
Mission.
On September of 1917, the Alcalde Mission School was opened in Alcalde
between Velarde and Santa Cruz. Due to her mother's illness as well
as her own, in 1918 Miss Perkins resigned from the mission field and
left New Mexico. She died on June 15, 1924 in Puente, California.
In 1927 Glen McCracken became the high school principal and later the
superintendent of McCurdy School. In 1930 Mr. McCracken reported a total
of 108 students at McCurdy School. As the first gymnasium was nearing
completion at McCurdy, a fire burned the building to the ground in 1931.
When the building was rebuilt, it was dedicated and named McCracken
Gymnasium. Boarding students were a part of the McCurdy School student
body and during the 1940's the boarding living quarters became very
crowded. Miss Irene Bachman shared her concerns and the need for new
a new dormitory to the church body and became successful in 1950 when
a new dormitory was constructed. The new dormitory was named Bachman
Hall in 1965. By 1965 Mr. McCracken had retired and Dale Robinson was
named the new McCurdy School Superintendent.
As a result of high operations costs and other economic factors, the
Velarde Mission School was closed in 1966. With the help of group ministry,
the Velarde church maintains and active congregation. In 1969 Mr. Robinson
assisted in the creation of a local School Board of Trustees to have
local input into the school's decision-making process. In 1973 the number
of students at McCurdy was a record of 597 students. This total included
students at the Santa Cruz and Alcalde schools. Due to high operations
costs and other economic factors, the Alcalde Mission School was closed
on May 23, 1980. After the closure of the Alcalde Mission, McCurdy School
presently enrolls approximately 420 students. McCurdy School has continued
to provide a high quality Christian-based education throughout the 1980's,
1990's and presently in the new millennium.
(Information on the McCurdy School history is taken from the book entitled
Light in the Valley)
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