In 1893-1894, Wellington pioneers Benjamin Dickinson and C.C. Turner established the Wellington School District from the larger Smith School District. Because the new district did not have a permanent school, pupils used a converted saloon until the school was completed in 1898. It was the first publicly funded grammar school in Wellington, though Dickinson died before he could see its completion. Originally gray with white trim, the wood-framed school stood just south of here, and its first teacher earned a salary of $50 per month. The school bell, personally purchased by C.C. Turner, was brought by freight wagon down Hoye Canyon and could be heard clanging down the rough road by residents. After the school closed in 1924, the bell remained hanging next to the building until it mysteriously disappeared in the 1930s. In 1972, the Compston Ranch family bought the school to house their collection of Smith Valley artifacts, then gifted the property to the Smith Valley Historical Society, and it was moved to its present location in 2012.