“We haven’t always been a resort community,” said Kathy Heicher, president of the Eagle County Historical Society. “There are very few families that can say this, but we’ve had four generations graduate from Steamboat Springs High School.” Kathy Heicher with the Eagle County Historical Society said there were 22 school districts in the county at one point. Eagle County Historical Society, Eagle Valley Library District/Courtesy PhotoFor early mountain communities, schools were not only for education, but for meetings, dinners, barn dances, church, voting and more. In Steamboat Springs, Jim Stanko said that the homesteaders built the “rural Western tradition that all the newcomers come to town wanting to be a part of.”