Preserving History + Embracing The Future: Lowell School

Photo by Jeremy Nelson

If you’re a Grand Junction local or a Coloradan who enjoys making memories in GJ, you may have passed by the Lowell School. If the old building could talk, it would tell the stories of the kids, teenagers and teachers who used to roam its halls. It served as an elementary school for about 50 years and then went on to be a high school for an additional 50 years. Now, after sitting vacant for a while, you may think its glory days have passed, but what lies ahead for the Lowell School is a new opportunity to serve the community.

The space, located in the historic district on the corner of 7th Street and Grand Avenue, was purchased by development company REgeneration and is being reimagined. REgeneration’s mission is to help reactivate parts of the community that have been overlooked through constructing new buildings or preserving old ones. “We’re trying to document and tell the story of those two chapters of the building’s life, but we’re also trying to create and write and promote the next chapter of the building’s life,” says Jeremy Nelson, manager of the Downtown Grand Junction REgeneration LLC.

Now, the prior classrooms serve as office spaces and studios. “We’ve really been trying to curate a mix of tenants to write that next chapter ... all of our tenants are local, small businesses or artists or, in some cases, civil groups,” Nelson shares.

The land in front of the Lowell School— 1,500 feet of green grass and mature trees— is called the Lowell School Commons. It is, essentially, a public park. Specifically, the land is known as a privately-owned, public open space, which is very common in bigger cities but newer in smaller ones. Tenants, and the community, can coordinate with the owners to hold fundraisers, private parties and other events, such as art shows and wine tastings. The only rules for the garden area are “be kind and behave.”

Nelson thinks that embracing the future requires looking at the past — extracting the gold from history and integrating it into our modern culture. Nelson calls the Lowell School project a long-term labor of love, because it’s important to REgeneration to rebuild the school in a way that pays homage to its heritage, indicating its past and future, even down to its authentic signage.

Nelson believes that every historic building is precious, because the built environment can reflect the community and make community members (both old and new) feel welcome, and he is eager to be a part of this project on the Western Slope. Nelson encourages people to partner with the Lowell School by organizing an event or by utilizing one of the spaces for their business (waitlist spaces are currently available). “Please come and join us,” Nelson invites. “Get excited with us!

Originally published in the Winter 2022 -23 issue of Spoke+Blossom.