This Abandoned Building was the Only High School in This Small WA Town

Mabton High School, Mabton Washington

Date added: October 06, 2024

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Washington
School

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Built in 1911 during a period of local growth and prosperity, Mabton High School was the city's first and, for more than fifty years, only high school building. The scale and cost of the school reflect the civic optimism of Mabton's early years and, although community fortunes declined after the 1920s, the school remains an imposing symbol from an era when Mabton was a leading trade center in the Yakima Valley.

Mabton was established as "Mabelton Station" in 1892, a stop along the route of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The site was located in a rich agricultural region, and stores, warehouses, hotels, and a depot were constructed almost immediately in anticipation of coming trade. Reflecting this initial growth, the town's first frame schoolhouse opened in the fall of 1895 under the tutelage of Miss Lima Platt. After the start of large-scale irrigation projects in the early twentieth century, farm production in the valley boomed and Mabton was an important rail shipping point for the region's wheat, hay, fruit, and stock products. In 1905, Mabton was incorporated as a city, and its commercial role was reflected in a business district that boasted several substantial brick blocks. But perhaps the most colorful event from the period was the annual Hay Palace Fair, an agricultural exposition held each summer in Mabton from 1915 to 1926, during which an elaborate "palace" was constructed of hay bales, a fitting symbol of Mabton's fortunes.

Mabton High School was built in the midst of the boom as the local population increased to nearly 1,000 people. Land for the school was purchased from the Mabton Orchards Company for $900 (paid for in gold coin). The new structure was a substantial brick edifice costing $30,000, with large classrooms, an arched entryway, and a shaped parapet reminiscent of the Mission Revival style of the period. By 1913, the school offered a fully accredited four-year course of study and maintained a staff of nine teachers. For the next half-century, Mabton High School served the educational needs of the community. Fifty-two classes graduated from the school before it was replaced by a new facility in the mid-1906s and used as a grade school.

Built during a boom period, the High School served long after the boom had ended. By the 1920s, improved rail connections and irrigation made Sunnyside and Grandview more important trade centers for the lower Yakima Valley. In 1926, a devastating fire leveled several buildings in Mabton, and further weakened the city's economic position. With its rail advantage gone, and its business district damaged, Mabton became a quiet, small service center for the immediate area. The high school remains among the few surviving buildings that still reflect the community's early prosperity. In an attempt to preserve the structure, the Mabton Historical Society purchased the high school building from the Mabton School District in 1977 for $7,800, and is responsible for the building's maintenance and future use.

Building Description

Mabton High School is situated on a two-acre lot on the eastern edge of Mabton, Washington. The property is surrounded by farmland on the northeast and southeast, by a new high school on the west, and residential neighborhoods on the northwest and southwest.

The high school building is a two-and-one-half story, tan brick structure with a basement (partly above grade) and attic. The rectangular structure measures approximately 80 by 62 feet, with exterior brick walls and a hip roof. The roof, which was covered with asphalt shingles in 1977, has projecting eaves underscored by woodblock modillions. Hip roof dormers project from all four slopes of the roof.

The north facade of the building is dominated by a two-and-one-half-story projecting pavilion which culminates in a shaped, curvilinear parapet. The pavilion houses the double door entry with fanlight (now boarded), set within a round-arched stone entryway with entablature. Above the arch, a concrete panel is inscribed "Mabton High School." The second story of the pavilion is lighted by three flat-headed windows; the top story has three windows arranged in a Palladian motif beneath the parapet. Fenestration is regularly disposed across all four sides of the building arranged in groups of three or four windows with stone lintels and sills. (Window openings have been boarded up and sash removed in recent years.) A stone water table separates the basement and upper stories. The frieze is ornamented with modillions beneath the eaves (with deterioration evident in the modillions, soffit, and fascia). Three brick chimneys rise above the roof.

Classroom space on the first and second floors is organized symmetrically around large central halls, with the main staircase in the north pavilion. The first classroom floor houses four classrooms and the principal's office. The second classroom floor has three classrooms and a small auditorium. Interior partition walls are faced in plaster. Interior wood trim includes door frames, window surrounds, and chair and picture rails. The original hardwood floors and banister survive in part. However, deterioration is evident throughout the interior, including the removal of many window panes and damage to classroom space due to a small fire.