Carey School • Flower Garden School

1308 Aspen St. • Built in 1892 • Demolished ca. 1936
Low Attendance and High Cost
Doomed the Facility

The Carey School was built during Helena's boom years, in anticipation of Helena becoming a Montana metropolis.

The Flower Garden School, soon renamed the Carey School, was designed by Franklin M. Williams (1860-1934). It was built almost concurrently with the first Helena High School, of which Williams was the superintendent of construction. Why it was named the Carey School was not found.

The school was somewhat remotely located at the time, and saw only sporadic use over the years. It was always plagued by low enrollment and high upkeep costs.

 

 

 

 

Sanborn Insurance Map, 1892


 

Carey School from the Flanks of Mt. Helena, ca. 1900


A Schoolboy's Lament


 

 

Demoltiion of the building began in 1931. It was evendently a slow process, as a 1935 newspaper item mentioned that it was still standing, although in poor condition. No further newspaper mentions of the school were found until the mid-1960s, when they began appearing in the obituaries of former students.