The Teacherage (Original Building)

It was a concept ahead of its time. Sometime in the late 1880’s or early 1890’s the community in Pleasant Valley, east of Payson, AZ, decided to dedicate a small cabin as a home for their teacher. As a concept, it was not necessarily unique. There had long been parsonages built to attract ministers to small communities in rural areas. It was exceptional when it came to teachers. It is true that, by 1910, teacherages were all the rage in rural communities, as it relieved local families of the burden of boarding the teachers in their homes and provided an incentive for a better quality of teacher to accept a position. All the same, in 1890, it was truly progressive thinking.