Colony Public School

Seger Indian Training School

John Seger built the Seger Indian Training School through federal funding in 1892. Under the supervision of John Seger, the Indians worked to complete the brick school and finished just in time for the first classes to commence on January 11, 1893.

It was decided in March 1927, that Seger Indian Training School would be consolidated with Concho Indian School in the foreseeable future. On August 15, 1932, the school closed permanently moving 25% of it’s 160 students to Concho.

After the closure of Seger Indian School, there was a battle between the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Council and Colony school district as to who would take ownership of the twenty buildings, water system, light plant, and four miles of land. Eventually being taken over by Colony school district.

Colony Public School

Colony School District 109, the last to be established in Washita County, organized in July 1912, due to the closing of the Dutch Reformed Church Mission School, which had been in operation in Colony since 1897. The Colony Public School building was located on the North side of town and was tragically destroyed by a tornado on January 8, 1951. A new gymnasium was built on the old Seger School grounds in 1951 after the tornado and would lead to the new location of the upcoming new Colony Public School to also be built on the grounds. On April 3, 1954 approval for a $60,000 new Colony Public School that would include a merged grade and high school building with seven classrooms, a library study hall, home economics department, administrative offices, restrooms, and storage room. Construction started in July of 1954 and was completed just in time for the 1955 school year.

Five hundred guests and students showed up on Sunday, January 9, 1955, for the dedication of the new school. Grades kindergarten through sixth grades in the west sector of the building and seventh through twelfth grades in the east sector. A few of the old Seger Indian Training School buildings were also used for the Colony School District.

Washita Heights Elementary

The last known graduating class of Colony Public Schools was in the 1967-68 school year. The same year Colony consolidated the school system with the town of Corn to form the Washita Heights School District. In 1999, an inspection of the school found nine violations and ordered the removal of combustible wall hangings, wood paneling, and locks on the exit door, also a fire alarm system was to be installed. It is unsure when the Washita Heights Elementary at Colony officially closed it had been sitting dilapidated already by 2012. In 2010 it came with a heavy heart that the Washita Heights School District closed its schools and annexed with Cordell Public School. “It’s a grieving process,” said an upset Mary Anne Couch, who has worked in Washita Heights Public Schools for 45 years. “Something that you have loved and dedicated years of your life to no longer will be.” The school boasted a 100% graduation rate, “As a result of the annexation, our students will be exposed to more opportunities and more options than just academics. When I think about the other kinds of vocational needs that our students might have, I’m thinking that they are going to be the beneficiaries. Our students are individuals and important here, where if they go to a larger school district, we’re afraid they will just be numbers,” said Superintendant Steve Richert.

Jim Davis Murder Trial

In the late afternoon hours of Friday, February 5th, 1960, two basketball teams were preparing to play their first game of the season. Colony vs. the visiting team Arapaho was set for tip off later in the evening. There was excitement in the air in the small community for the upcoming game. Before the game head basketball coach for Colony, James (Jim) Davis, was at the converted apartment on the school grounds that he shared with his young wife Patricia and their 18-month-old daughter. Without warning and for seemingly no reason at all, the basketball coach repeatedly struck his wife with a baseball bat then stabbed her up to half a dozen times with a paring knife. After the brutal slaying of his wife, he left the apartment and headed to the school to coach his basketball team in the game that night.

Sometime during the game, Coach Davis became concerned when his wife was not in attendance as scheduled. Out of that concern, he sent two high school girls to his home to check on his missing wife. To the gut-wrenching surprise of the two young girls, they found Patricia Davis slain inside the apartment. The apartment looked as though there had been a robbery and a struggle.  The baby was found unharmed asleep in her crib. The fear of a serial killer quickly spread through the town leaving everyone uneasy for the next several days.

Five days after the murder of his wife, Mr. Davis confessed to the State Crime Bureau agents that he was responsible for the death of Patricia Davis and described “blacking out” but offered no other explanation for his actions. He was able to lead agents to the location where he disposed of the bat used in the beating of his wife. He insisted that he was happy in his marriage and didn’t know what happened that night. He stated several times that they had no problems in the marriage and that he loved her very much.

One of the high school girls that Jim Davis sent to check on his wife the night she was murdered, Dona Brooks, testified at one of two preliminary hearings that there had been an inappropriate relationship between herself and Coach Davis. Aside from flirting between the two, she testified that the two had kissed and the Coach had told her that he loved her. They both denied having a physical relationship. Coach Davis denied that his indiscretions had anything to do with him killing his wife.

On June 10, 1960, after the second preliminary hearing, County Judge Jesse Stovall determined that there was enough evidence to proceed with a murder trial and it was set to begin in October 1960.  However, Jim Davis accepted a plea deal for a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter with a sentence of life in prison. He was denied parole by the state pardon and parole board in 1969 after serving 8 years of his life sentence.

Fire

After this, the buildings were left abandoned, and the Oklahoma Historical Society and Colony School District had been in a battle over preserving or razing the entire compound. In a last-ditch effort to stop the demolition of the Colony-Seger complex, the OHS placed the school on the NRHP on August 5, 1971. This caused more tension between the District and the Oklahoma Historical Society. On September 2-5, 1971, just a month after its NRHP status a series of five fires within three days ravaged the compound. The fire on Sept. 5th destroyed a majority of the Seger buildings and required firefighters from five departments to put out the blaze and keep it from destroying the new Washita Heights school that was less than 100 feet away. “We cannot know what happened until an investigation is completed but if the fire was intentional, it is a poor way to treat the few tangible things we can have in preserving Oklahoma’s fine historical culture,” said President of the OHS George Shirk.

A few days later the State Fire Marshall concluded that the most recent fire that served as a final blow to the compound was in fact intentionally set. Including the other four fires, even one occurring just 45 minutes after the last was put out. Eventually, the deterioration caused for its removal of the National Register on January 1. 1973.

Article by AOK Photojournalist’s Emily Cowan and Jennifer Burton.

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