Rose Lodge School

Located in northern Lincoln County five miles off of highway 101 and north of highway 18, Rose Lodge school operated as an official member of the state association from 1922 to 1938.

Yahoo Maps places Rose Lodge right on Highway 18 while Google Maps places it a couple miles north of the highway. Regardless, it's tucked into the Cascades surrounded by huge strands of trees and forest land. According to the 2000 Census, Rose Lodge had a population of 1,708. It was designated by the census bureau as a Census Designated place meaning its census figures included surrounding areas that were not legally incorporated.


At its height, Rose Lodge had 28 students in the 1936-37 school census. It's low mark was 9 students in the 1926-27 census.

These figures are certainly low but not uncommon during this era. A quick look at a few other enrollments from that time reveals that there are several schools with around this number. The 1931 Southern Oregon College Invitational featured Gardiner with 14 students, Glide and Sams Valley with 25 and Arago with 28.

Glide continues to operate today with 243 but Sams Valley and Arago both closed in 1942.

Thus far, Rose Lodge has not turned up in any basketball research I have conducted. According to Astoria's Mal Van Meer, owner and operator of Oregon Prepu Bureau the gym is located inside the building shown below.



Of particular interest to me is the dilapidated basketball rim on the side of the school. Also interesting is that the building appears to have undergone a bit of modernizing with the wheelchair ramp leading into the doorway. That was certainly not standard procedure in the 1930's.

Mr. Van Meer notes that when Rose Lodge closed in 1938, the students likely were shipped to Taft high school in Lincoln City.