Charlie Ramstetter was like a lot of elementary school students. He loved recess and geography, pranks and snow days. But Charlie went to school in a one-room schoolhouse in Golden Gate Canyon in1943, and most of his classmates were his own brothers and sisters.

He recently shared his memories with students at Mitchell Elementary School as part of a special program this year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Mitchell.

The Guy Hill schoolhouse served generations of families living in Golden Gate Canyon until it was closed in 1956, and the kids were bussed to Mitchell. There was one teacher, one room, and students from kindergarten to sixth grade.

"Most of my classmates were my own family. There were seven kids in my family and cousins in the area too. We lived in a house that had been an old stagecoach stop in 1876," Charlie Ramstetter told the kids.

"We walked over a mile to get to school, some kids came on horseback."

Ramstetter told the Mitchell students about his teacher, Mrs. Wellman from Canada. "She lived in a tiny old house behind the school. They couldn't pay her much, so they gave her the house to live in."

Every class from Mitchell Elementary School is walking in the footsteps of history, with a trip to see the Guy Hill one room schoolhouse at the Clear Creek History Park.

Mitchell students have a special connection to the old schoolhouse. In 1976, Mitchell students petitioned authorities to save the building that had fallen into disrepair. Their voices were heard, and the building was moved to the old Mitchell Elementary School at 11th and Ford streets and then to the Clear Creek History Park, where it stands today.

Charlie Ramstetter was one of the first visitors to his old school when it was moved to its new home at the History Park."My sister wrote to me when I was overseas with the Army and told me the building was going to be saved. When I got home, we went to see it."

History lessons don't always come from books. Sometimes, they walk right into your classroom and teach you that students who learned in one room schoolhouses are a lot like students today.