There was an outdoor area known as "the habitat" in the middle of the former Laboratory School, which once operated in Bishop-Lehr Hall at the University of Northern Colorado.
Named by students, the square-shaped habitat was visible on all four sides from the interior of the two-story building, adding to the interest in the space.
Greeley native Dave Sjoberg went to the university-run Lab School at Bishop-Lehr from first through 12th grade in the 1960s and early 1970s. Sjoberg, now 69 and living in Fort Collins, was in the first class of first graders when the building opened in 1961.
Sjoberg fondly remembered the habitat with trees and a pond with fish.
"You could see what was going on," Sjoberg said. "It was kind of a cool thing to go out there for a class or go out and have lunch there."
Bishop-Lehr has been a highly visible building in Greeley since it opened more than 60 years ago at the corner of 11th Avenue and West 20th Street. Now, fences surround the building in preparation for its demolition by the end of the year.
Within the next two years, UNC will put up a $127.5 million building to house its proposed college of osteopathic medicine. UNC received approval from the state earlier this year to move forward with the project, and construction could begin in early 2025.
The first class of students could arrive in 2026.
Despite the funding from the state, the American Osteopathic Medicine's Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation requires UNC to refer to the medical college as "proposed" at this stage of the accreditation process.
UNC will host a ceremonial groundbreaking Saturday morning at Bishop-Lehr as part of the university's homecoming festivities. The groundbreaking begins at 10:30 a.m. in the parking lot on the south side of the hall.
Bishop-Lehr, though, won't come down at a scheduled time on a set day. As crews prepared the building for teardown, they found additional asbestos in the building, so abatement and demolition will be performed in phases, according to university director of news and public relations Deanna Herbert.
The building will be demolished in portions beginning in mid-November. University officials expect the abatement to go on through the end of the year.
UNC will host a public forum next month on the construction project from 5-6:30 pm. Thursday, Oct. 24 in the Panorama Room of UNC's University Center, 2101 10th Ave. The university will provide the community with more information on the project and what UNC neighbors may expect.
Former principal Greg Pierson said ducks, rabbits and a prairie dog named Garfield also lived in the habitat, which spanned about an acre. Students maintained the habitat, and teachers installed the pond and trees.
The habitat wasn't the only spot at the school to provide some peace and serenity. Pierson said teachers also took students outside in the front of the building to hold classes under trees.
Pierson served as principal from 1977-91 and again starting in 2001 for the final year in Bishop-Lehr. He said the sadness with the building was most profound when the Lab School left Bishop-Lehr and became University Schools at its current location on 18th Street in west Greeley.
When Pierson worked as principal, student enrollment was capped at 650 students in K-12. The student population increased to about 900 for the first year in its new building as University Schools.
"It was kind of a messy divorce," Pierson recalled. "UNC got the house, and we got the kids."
Pierson said it's past time for Bishop-Lehr's demolition. It's a worn-out building, and there should be a more productive use for the site.
"It was a special place for everyone," Pierson said. "I'm glad to know it's coming down for something that will benefit everyone."
Named for retired UNC professors, Bishop-Lehr's future was much discussed after the Lab School moved out. The building was primarily used for storage, UNC's Herbert said. It also was a training site for UNC police and Greeley police and fire departments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the driveway and parking lot outside the building were used for drive-thru testing.
By the time Sjoberg graduated in 1973, the high school in Bishop-Lehr changed names from College High to University High to coincide with UNC's name change. UNC was known by its fourth name, Colorado State College, before becoming the University of Northern Colorado in 1970.
The Lab School was part of UNC for more than a century. The school moved from Kepner Hall to Bishop-Lehr in 1961, and the K-12 students, college- and university-based teachers and student teachers learned and worked in Bishop-Lehr through November 2002.
"What was kind of unique about us was that quite a few of the teachers had PhDs," Sojberg said. "Highly educated teachers. They had doctorates in their field. Not only were they teaching us as students, but they were teaching the teachers, and that gave us a unique perspective."
The Lab School was operated exclusively as a semi-private institution by UNC and subsidized by student tuition until the late 1990s, The Denver Post reported in 2000.
UNC announced its separation from the school that year. The university applied for a charter with Greeley-Evans School District 6 in 1998 and began operating the school under the charter the following year. The majority of the funding then came from District 6, and tuition could no longer be charged because it was a public charter school.
Sjoberg's sons, Phillip and Andrew, graduated from University High. Phillip graduated from University High in 2003 after the school moved to 18th Street. Phill then went to UNC. He died in February 2023 after an eight-year battle with cancer at age 37. Andrew Sjoberg graduated from University in 2008.
"It's a lot of mixed emotions," Dave Sjoberg said of Bishop-Lehr's impending demolition. "I think it's great they're putting in a medical facility there to train doctors. I think that's a helpful thing and meaningful for me since I lost my son last year. I think it's kind of a shame that the building has gone unused. It's kind of been lost."
Retired teacher Jeanne Lipman doesn't cling to any nostalgic feelings for Bishop-Lehr Hall as a building. Instead, she has "great memories" of her colleagues, the students and all of what was accomplished at Lab School and later at University Schools, she said.
Lipman taught for 39 of her 43 years at the Lab School and at University Schools, focusing on business, technology and programming classes. She was also the web manager at University Schools until her retirement in 2014. She continued to work as a substitute teacher until 2019.
She recalled Bishop-Lehr could at times be a tough place for teaching because the building was hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
Lipman, 76, maintains a deep loyalty to the Lab School model, which -- as the name suggests -- was an experimental and developmental education setting for K-12 students and student teachers at affiliated universities and colleges that trained teachers.
Lipman agreed with Sjoberg and Pierson that the use of the Bishop-Lehr land for a college of osteopathic medicine is a productive venture. She doesn't want the 106-year history of the Lab School to be lost when Bishop-Lehr comes down.
"I'm concerned when Bishop-Lehr shuts down, the history of the wonderful place will be put on a shelf," Lipman said. "No one will remember except those who were there and the kids who went there."
UNC says the economic impact of the proposed college of osteopathic medicine is expected to boost Colorado's economy by $1.4 billion over the next 20 years. The economic report says $501 million of the impact will remain in Weld County.
After the 20-year mark, the college's financial impact could be at least $197.2 million annually in added income for the state and $43.2 annually for Weld County.