Under the unique terms of endowment, an architectural competition was held to ensure that Carson's farsighted plans were carried out with care, vigor and equity. Carson desired an ideal environment for the raising of children whose parents were both deceased.

Albert W. Kelsey, a Missouri-born city planner, won the competition with a delightful scheme combining fairy-tale whimsy and a solid sense of safety and home. Completed ten years later, the Tudor-style village would wrap the facility's many, diverse residents in its sure embrace through the remainder of the century - and into the next. (The plan for the school would later be expanded upon by residential architect W. Pope Barney, who added several new cottages and service buildings.)

The Carson College for Orphan Girls opened in 1917 - born at the height of World War I, and following years of protracted court battles, inflation, materials shortages, labor problems, and other difficulties.

The school was administered by its first president, Elsa Ueland, from 1917 to 1960. It was she who created and nurtured the residential care focus of the school. Today, the school's progressive programs and services continue to emphasize the individualized care Ms. Ueland supported. The school remains a contemporized reflection of this innovative educator.

As society progressed and the science of childhood development advanced, Carson also evolved. In 1965, Carson College for Orphan Girls was incorporated as the Carson Valley School.

Much has changed over the intervening years, but Carson Valley School endures. It is unswerving in its dedication to the original purpose - to serve children in need. Programming is and has always been flexible - to embrace the positive, progressive changes in our society.