Week 54: The Evans School

Open

After Teddy Roosevelt became president, many people believed that his experience in the West and its rigors of life were crucial to his success. Some of the wealthiest Eastern industrialists wanted their sons to have this same experience prior to claiming their place as captains of industry.  To answer this need, ranch schools started to pop up all over the West.  One of the most notable of these schools was the Evans School for Boys in Mesa.  Dr. A. J. Chandler soon devised a way for this school to assist his desire to connect his self named community of Chandler, to this ever growing audience of Easterners looking for a true western experience.

The Evans School was founded by Henry David Evans, an Englishman who had come to Mesa in 1899. In 1902 he purchased land two and a half miles southeast of Mesa that became known as El Rancho Bonito, and started a school for boys that soon gained the reputation for being one of the best in the country.  As it was described to Easterners, “Every breeze wafted across the mountains, valleys and deserts bears upon its wings health, strength, vigor of mind and body.” It was a school for “those who find it necessary to take a rest from their regular college or preparatory school courses and yet do not wish to lose entirely the tread of their studies. To such [the Evans School] offers exceptional advantages, combining life in the open with sound university instruction.” To assure parents, the actives were explained as, “The entire morning and part of the evening are devoted to study, while the afternoons are given up wholly to outdoor life.”

The school became so well respected that Theodore Roosevelt enrolled his two youngest sons, Archie and Quentin.  Only large enough to accommodate 20 students a year, a roster of the school’s student body read like a society page. To ensure the best education, Professor Evans primarily hired Harvard graduates as school faculty. The boys’ education featured an active, western, “rugged” lifestyle that included horseback riding, hikes in the mountains, and camping.  It also included many traditional athletic pursuits including, baseball, tennis, golf, and polo. When temperatures in the Valley started to climb in April, Evans and the faculty would move the school to their summer quarters in Flagstaff

Once Doctor Chandler opened the townsite of Chandler, he saw a great business opportunity in the school. Most of the boys were members of wealthy families who would, at various times of the year, visit the Evans School.  Dr. Chandler was maneuvering his newly completed San Marcos Hotel to become THE place for the families of Evans School students to stay.  In order to accomplish this, Dr. Chandler became close with H. D. Evans.

At Chandler’s invitation, Evans and his students attended the grand opening of the San Marcos.  They also attended the first movie ever shown in town at the Gem Theater, a two reel feature called “Better or Worse.”  Dr. Chandler threw dinner parties in their honor, inviting local elites to mingle with the students.  An account of one such affair described the event as “An unusually pretty dinner dance,” featuring yellow flowers.

Dr. Chandler regularly hosted the boys from the Evans School at the San Marcos for tennis, golf and polo.  Golf was especially popular, as the boys learned the game under the tutelage of Harry Collis, the internationally renowned San Marcos golf pro.  Tournaments featured local men playing against the boys.  A 1916 tournament resulted in the students winning 5 holes, while the men took 14.  Dr. Chandler himself won three.  In 1914, the school organized a polo team, possibly the first in the state.  This may have led Dr. Chandler to build the San Marcos polo stables and fields.

Dr. Chandler’s plan to tie the school to his hotel worked.  The local newspapers from that time are sprinkled with society notes about wealthy Easterners visiting their sons and staying at the San Marcos.  Though the school moved to Tucson in 1921, Dr. Chandler’s business decision continued to pay off as families like the Tremaines, who later purchased a large ranch in Chandler, continued to visit the hotel long after the school was gone.