Constructed in 1925, this building served as an elementary school until 1965. It and the adjoining park, formerly known as Cottonwood, were named Whitman School and Whitman Park in honor of frontier missionary Marcus Whitman, who passed through this area in 1842 while heading east to urge the United States Congress to lay claim to Oregon Country, then occupied by both the United States and Great Britain. In 1965, the Museum of Arts and Sciences opened in the building as the predecessor of the Museums of Western Colorado.