At the end of a shade-dappled lane is a construction site.

Large metal spikes in the ground mark off invisible building boundaries, generators hum in the early morning air and signs proclaiming this a "hard hat area" hang from the chain link fence surrounding the site.

Sitting quietly amongst the hullaballoo is a small adobe building that is the original Bosque Farms Elementary School.

Originally built in 1936, using adobe, the school initially served first through eighth grade. Because the school is located on only 4.6 acres, there has been little opportunity to expand the building, but the school district has made the most of what is available.

In 1987, a new classroom addition was built, and the main building and library have been remodeled. The library highlights the original territorial style with open vigas and a "kiva" reading pit. The most recent construction was in 2006, which added a new cafeteria, a teacher's lounge and four kindergarten classrooms.

Presently, the school serves kindergarten through sixth grade, and draws students from Bosque Farms, portions of Peralta and the Isleta Reservation.

Until the renovations are complete, which is expected to be at the end of the calender year, Bosque Farms Elementary students are being housed at the Blue School in Los Lunas.

The renovation that recently started includes improvements to the original building as well as a complete tear-down of the wing on the southeast corner of the school built in 1965.

In its place, a new two-story classroom addition will be built. The renovation will also include getting the school up to its 500-student capacity.

The Bosque Farms Elementary site, originally built for 325 children, currently has about 440 students and is considered small for an elementary school.

Typically, an elementary school will have anywhere from 10 to 15 acres. The district's new Sundance Elementary, for example, is housed on 14.7 acres.

As plans were begun to improve the small campus, initial thoughts were to simply raze the entire facility and begin fresh. But the residents of the village, both former students and parents of students, pushed to have the original adobe building kept and preserved. The district agreed it would be left and become part of the completed campus.

"Because Bosque Farms Elementary is a complicated project, we're going to leave intact the core building. It's beautiful and historical," former Superintendent Walter Gibson said.

According to long-time Bosque Farms resident Theresa Blake, this was not the first time the school was in jeopardy. She moved to the village in 1959 with her husband and their two children.

In the early 1960s, the district was contemplating closing the school due to disrepair, which would necessitate the bussing of students to Los Lunas.

"Mrs. Crystal Carpenter and Dr. Bob Blake went to the school board for permission to do repairs on the school," Blake said. "During that same time, there were more and more cars going by the school, on what is now West Bosque Loop. The children were going out into the street to retrieve balls and other toys."

The residents of Bosque Farms and Peralta came together and volunteered their labor to erect a chain link fence around the property to keep the children safe, Blake said.

"Roy Watson supervised the work, and did many of the repairs. He replaced the boards on the stairs leading up to the loft storage area, repaired the floors in some of the classrooms that had broken floor boards and put down a new finish," she said. "He also did some electrical and plumbing work.

"There were so many people who helped with that restoration," she remembered. "I remember the women helped with the painting and made lunches for the workers."

With the school safe and repaired, classes resumed. The rodeo grounds were just to the north of the school, and students benefited from the rural atmosphere of the area, Blake said.

"It was safe to let our children ride over there to practice barrels and poles," she said. "Even the dogs followed them. I remember our dog would follow our daughter over when she would practice the poles. He even followed the horse through the poles, weaving in and out.

"Then the day of the competition, the dog took off and ran the course, beating her horse. Oh, she was so mad." Blake laughs at the memory.

Students would ride their bikes to school, meeting up along the way and riding to school in a group.

"We felt comfortable enough for them to do that," she said. "We watched out for each other's children. All the families knew each other at that time."

Blake said most of what was to become the village was dairy farms at that time. And that led to a few other uses of the school, since there was no village hall for meetings and events.

She remembers a team of local dairy men forming a basketball team and playing at the school. Saturday nights were usually spiced up with Western dances at the school.

"I remember when we first moved here, the first Bosque Farms Fair we went to was at the school," she said. "When we heard the district was going to tear it down, it was very upsetting. So many of us have lived in Bosque Farms a long time and wanted it to stay. When they decided to leave it, honestly I was a little surprised."

Born and raised in Bosque Farms, Paul Shore went to school there in the 1940s when it still went up to the eighth grade.

"I remember there were not a lot of kids, and we had two or three grades in each room," Shore said. "There were only 48 original houses, and now we have 3,000 or 4,000 people."

Shore remembers community dances at the school house, and one teacher, in particular, during his days as a student.

"I can remember one teacher, Miss Potter. She gave me a whooping," he chuckled. "I'm not sure why. I was a pretty good kid, I thought. But it was just school. I had to go."

Shore said the decision to leave the original building was "pretty nice."

From 1959 to 1965, John Tull, Jr. was a student at Bosque Farms Elementary, completing grades one through six.

Tull says his fourth grade teacher, Dale Shedd, was probably his favorite teacher at the school.

"Mr. Shedd had been in the Marine Corps, and was very proud of his military service. He often talked about it to those who were interested in that sort of thing, which included me, because my Dad had been in the Navy," Tull said. "What I took away from Mr. Shedd's encouragement and enthusiasm was a greater interest in the military, which continued, as I eventually became a career Naval officer."

Along with fond memories of a teacher, Tull said most of his favorite memories of the school revolve around the lasting friendships he made with many of the students he went to school with.

"During my time there, Bosque Farms Elementary was fairly small, and that meant you knew almost everyone, grew up with them and became good friends with quite a few of them," he said. "Some of those same friendships remain today, some 50 years later."

In addition to classes, Tull remembers attending 4-H meetings at the elementary school, dances and the annual Bosque Farms Community Fair.

"At the time I went to Bosque Farms Elementary, the rodeo arena for Bosque Farms was located just north of the school, and the fair and rodeo were held at the school and arena," he said. "Also, I can remember my folks going to the cafeteria at Bosque Farms Elementary to vote for quite a few years and then me voting there myself when I became of voting age."

Having the original school kept during the renovations is something Tull says he is definitely glad to see.

"The main building at the school is a recognizable landmark in the community," he said. "People who live here give directions and distances referencing it and for many, like me, it represents the 'roots' of Bosque Farms heritage."

Once the project is complete, Tull is hopeful that the building will function as an integral part of the new school complex in some capacity, as it has for years, he said.

"But it should also have the flexibility to be used for both special school and community events," Tull said. "It might also be an appropriate place for a display on the history of Bosque Farms for students, visitors, new and current residents."

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