One of my first Haunt Jaunts blog posts was about Cheeseman Park in Denver, Colorado. Of the 740 plus posts HJ has published, that one now has the most comments.
True, some of them are mine. Replies I’ve made to comments left by others. In most cases, the comments were made by others who also attended the small, private school that used to sit on the park’s edge. Some knew it as the Peter Pan School for Boys and Girls. Some, like myself, knew it as Cheeseman Academy.
The post sparked an impromptu reunion of sorts. Old classmates reconnected. Memories were shared.
For me, the best thing was the pictures. I never thought I’d see the school again. I used to dream about it a lot. Of the park, the front entrance, the gymnasium, and the place in the school I dreaded above all others: Mrs. Mitchell’s office. She was the vice principal and the scariest woman I ever met.
But sometimes the dream would turn from happy recollections of my bygone youth into nightmares of a benevolent force that haunted the attic. In my dreams, as it had been in real life, the third floor was off limits. But in my dreams I’d be chased by unseen phantoms to the lower level, or out of the building entirely.
It’s been years and years since I had any dreams involving Cheeseman Academy. The last dream I remember vividly. It had a final feeling to it. It was also so full of sadness. And the specters that had always tormented me when they’d appeared before seemed to want my help.
Instead of chasing me from the building, they kept pushing me in. Almost herding me to another room us kids spent a lot of time in, the lunchroom. Others were gathered there. Old teachers I hadn’t ever dreamed of before, much less thought about in years. Parents. Other kids.
It perplexed me until one time when I was home for a visit in the 1990s and we were driving near the park.
“Oooh! Can we drive past Cheeseman?” I asked my sister.
Knowing I meant the school not the park she said, “It’s not there anymore. They tore it down.”
“What? When?”
“I don’t know exactly. It’s been a while now.”
I was devastated. Heart broken in fact. I felt like I’d just learned a cherished friend had died.
I instantly thought of the last Cheeseman dream I’d had. Had the school and its ghosts been saying goodbye in a way?
Then it really hit me. I’d never get to go back and walk the halls as an adult. I’d never get to see it one last time. I was grief-stricken.
I hoped maybe I was mistaken. Maybe I would dream of the school again someday. At least I’d be able to visit it that way and see it again.
It still hasn’t happened.
However, the alum of Cheeseman have pulled together and created a group on Facebook called, what else? Cheeseman Academy Alumni (formerly Peter Pan School for Girls ad Boys).
In addition to tons of memories, people have even shared something I find most precious of all: pictures of the school. Like this one:
Shelley scanned it from an old brochure she had. It looks slightly different than when I attended. By the time I got there the right side had been added on to. That’s where the gymnasium stood.
On Facebook an alum named Scott shared a pic he took of the school before it was demolished. Even though the trees were unkempt and the lawn overgrown, it was the school I remembered.
Seeing it again has made my heart both happy and sad. Happy because I can see it again. It’s brought back a flood of memories.
But that’s what also makes me sad. That it’s gone and all that remains are our memories.
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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Wow, that place had character. I can’t see my old elementary school anymore, but that’s due to the ugly flesh-colored trailers they’ve parked in front full-time to serve as additional classrooms since apparently no budget to build the real deal.
Ick! How awful! So sad there’s no funding for education. It breaks my heart when I hear more stories like that. Which happen more and more these days. Something’s gotta give and change.
Ooops…getting off track. Sorry. I’m easily distracted you see…
THANKS for the comment! And “character” is an excellent way to describe the school. 😉
b4 chesseman waz a park, it waz a cematary, then they removed the grave markers but not the graves, wich can still be seen from above the park from the surounding apartment complexes. so keep that in mind the nex time u stroll accross chesseman park in denver colorado.
Hey Mutant Buzzard (what an awesome moniker, btw!). Yes, I was aware of the cemetery, but NOT that you could spy evidence of it even today by way of the surrounding condos. Very cool. I gotta find someone with a bird’s eye view to let me come take a peep some time. 😉
I attended Cheeseman Academy from kindergarten through 4th grade. I left because the school was closing. I too dream of the 3rd floor attic. I recall feeling as if there were spirits or something in the building. The school was so majestic, so beautiful with its wood paneling. Ms. Mitchell was frightening. I remember tripping and falling down the metal stairs in the back of the house when we walked out of art class for lunch and then we walked to the park for recess. The girls enjoyed playing house and sweeping up the pine needles from under the trees. I remember Blue Spruce and Larkspur were the names of our classrooms. And lunch in the big, beautiful dining room was always fun. The gym right off the front door was where we sat on the floor and played jacks and kickball when the weather was inclement. I used to look out of the big windows and wait for my mom to pick me up. I’m so grateful for the time I spent there.
Janet, we must’ve known each other. I would’ve been in 6th grade. But I swear your memories are ones I could’ve written. I remember all those things! Except looking out the window for my mom. I rarely watched in wait. I was always sort of sad to leave my friends and have the day be done. But everything else? Yep. You nailed it! Thanks for leaving a comment!
Thanks for the photo of the old “Peter Pan” school. I didn’t have one and will use this one in my photo book as “schools attended”.
I went to Peter Pan School when it was a boarding school for girls only. About 1936 to 1941. The headmistress was Mr.s Maude Miller. (No one, even my mother) dared call her Maude!). When I was there she had a little baby boy. My brother, Jere, was the first boy student when he was to start second grade and Jay was ready for first grade. That year, I was a day student in the 6th grade. It was after that that boys were allowed. I have many wonderful memories of that great school! There were about 6-8 boarding students then. I have written a little book of memoirs about those years. It can be found on Fast Pencil’s web-site as “Growing up With Peter Pan.”
Oh wow, Janet! Congrats on writing a book about Peter Pan School. And you are SO write about Mrs. Miller…I knew her name was Maude, but she was strictly Mrs. Miller to me. How neat you got to sleep in that school as a boarding student. I’ll have to check out your memoirs. Thanks for the comment!
It’s nice to see all these comments. I went to Peter Pan from 1957-1961. I remember Mrs. Miller very well. She was a true educator. I have fond memories of my days at Peter Pan and playing in beautiful Cheeseman Park. My favorite teacher at the school was Mrs. Boal. Mrs. Miller’s son, Jay, was just entering The Air Force Academy when I was attending Peter Pan. She was so proud of him. Every Christmas, we would put on a play and it would be televised live on channel 9. In the spring we would take part in an operetta and it would be held at Phipps Auditorium. Good times!
Wow. Such fantastic memories, Vicki. So glad you found the thread and that you took the time to share your memories. This is proving what a magical school and how much it impacted all of us indeed!
I too attended Cheeseman Academy, early 80s. I was in fourth grade and although I remember Mrs Miller, she was not teaching. Her son and his wife were running the school and living across the street in the Miller home. I don’t remember my teachers name but for cursive and art I had Ms Gruesome and she was so mean! I had so many memories there in such a short time… “For all we eat, for all we wear, for all we have everywhere we thank thee Heavenly Father, amen”. Did anyone else say that at school before meals? I wish it were still there so I could show my children the house where I got a great education. My mother also attended school there when it was Peter Pan, but I don’t know what years.
I never thought I would find a web site with information on Peter Pan. I attended from around 1955-1961 and my mother and aunt attended before me. My education was great but, at that time, I found the emotional environment not that great. In one of those spring productions I was ‘the fortune teller’ and someone innocently pushed me out in front of the curtain between scenes. I ran across the stage trying to look like a gypsy. When I got to the other side ‘MRS. MILLER’ promptly slapped me across the face for having stepped out in front of the audience. Mrs. Boal slapped me in the 4th grade for not paying attention in a boys and girls dance class. Mrs. Judge, my first grade teacher, slammed me down in my desk when I was raising my hand to go to bathroom (shortly before having surgery for a benign bladder tumor) and I wet all around my desk. I now have a master’s in the field of psychology. lol
Oh my gosh, this has been wonderful to read about. I went to Peter Pan from 1961 and 1962. Wish I could access the facebook page, but it must have been removed. Would LOVE to see pictures. I remember the auditorium and dining room. In first grade my first room class was Tinkerbell, 2nd grade was crocodiles. Great memories.
Oh no. I’m sad to hear the Facebook site is no more. It was fun to see people connecting/sharing their memories there. Thanks for leaving your thoughts on the school!
Courtney,
I might have been wrong. I think I found the facebook.page and asked to join.
FANTASTIC! Thx for letting me know! Hope you’re able to reconnect with some old friends maybe and relive some more happy memories.
I
I worked at Cheeseman Academy from August of 1978 till February of 1979. I was Mrs. Mitchell’s “assistant” hired by the Board of Directors. Mrs. Miller still lived across the street in her mansion. Sometime that summer before I started working there Mrs. Miller backed her car up into a tree in the park so she was not allowed to drive anymore. I met her a few times-she would wander over to say hi to Mrs. Mitchell and ask about a few specific children. The only thing I remember her saying to me was to put a bobby pin in my hair to keep my bangs out of my face. Mrs. Miller moved into a nursing home sometime that winter. She would call Mrs. Mitchell sometimes and talk about the good ole days…and See’s candy. I was in charge of operating the mimeograph machine. It was located on the dreaded third floor! I actually loved going up there and looking at the park from the windows. Poor Mrs. Mitchell was on a tight budget. If I went upstairs to make copies of worksheets for a teacher she gave me exactly enough sheets of paper for the students and warned me not to make any mistakes because that was all the paper I could have. Sometime shortly before I left Mrs. Miller’s son (from Salt Lake City) showed up across the street at Mrs. Miller’s home. I think it shook Mrs. Mitchell up a bit- she fretted a while before going across the street to greet him. I think the school stayed open a year or two longer. I left for another job in education but still think of Cheeseman Academy on occasion and regret that the school as well as Mrs. Miller’s home were demolished.
Hi June!! How exciting! You would’ve worked there when I attended! And so cool to hear you worked for Mrs. Mitchell…a perspective I can better appreciate now as an adult. lol
But I loved hearing this side of the story. I just vaguely remembered Mrs. Mitchell was put in charge and Mrs. Miller was no longer there one year. Yet, we all knew she was still across the street in her house. Then my last year, which would also be the school’s last, her son and his wife took over.
That’s so funny about the See’s Candy memory too! My dad loved that candy. I always think it’s such a Colorado thing but who knows?
And the mimeograph machine!!!! It was HUGE deal if one of us kids ever got to assist a teach using it! As you might imagine, that was a rarity. But it makes me sad that I don’t think I ever thought to gaze out on the park from up there. I bet it was a beautiful site! Confession: sometimes I’d claim tummy ache so I could go lay down for a bit in the sunroom on the park side. I think it was attached to the lunchroom? Or accessed through there? I don’t really remember. I just know sometimes I wanted to just put myself in time out for a bit in there to lay down and daydream while looking out at the park. lol
THANK YOU so very much for taking the time to share your memories and perspective of your time at Cheeseman. What a marvelous treat!!!!