Former Elementary School Building in WA
Wilkeson School, Wilkeson Washington
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The Wilkeson School, constructed 1912-1913, functioned for many years as the educational center of this small and relatively isolated Mt. Rainier community. The town of Wilkeson, which dates from the 1880's, was founded upon the early development of local coal and sandstone industries. Although greatly reduced in population, present-day Wilkeson is in many ways physically and sociologically intact. The majority of its approximately 275 citizens are second and third-generation residents whose grandparents attended Wilkeson School and worked the local stone quarry and coal mines.
The school building itself is an outspoken symbol of Wilkeson's former prosperity. Sturdy and imposing, the school was constructed of locally quarried Wilkeson sandstone. The building is certainly the most monumental and permanent of the town's structures, and remains a particularly noteworthy architectural achievement within its geographic and socio-economic context.
The village of Wilkeson was named after the area's earliest journalist-entrepreneur. On a reconnaissance mission for the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1869, Samuel Wilkeson inspected and documented the region's vast coal and sandstone deposits. In 1876, the Railroad built a line from Tacoma to the Wilkeson vicinity in order to proceed with the development of existing coal deposits. It was here that the Wilkeson and Tacoma Coal and Coke Company constructed the first series of coke ovens in the Pacific Coast region in 1880. By 1888, the coke industry was firmly established through the long-term lease of the coal fields by the Wilkeson Coal and Coke Company. Meanwhile, limited operations at the sandstone quarry, approximately one mile above the present-day settlement, began in 1886.
For several years, the town of Wilkeson consisted of a small camp located near the coal mines. The first plat was filed in the early 1890's by A. J. Hill. The village's earliest extensive building contract involved construction of ten miners' cottages. A commercial "fireproof" block was built in Wilkeson in 1908, beginning the transition from temporary frame structures to a more permanent structural fabric. Wilkeson incorporated in 1909, after which the pace of community improvements accelerated.
According to a special issue of the Wilkeson Record, published c. 1917, Wilkeson was a bustling community that boasted cement sidewalks, paved streets, three churches, two theatres, three public halls, a newspaper, a cigar factory, bottling works, and two bakeries. The town's population reached its peak between 1915 and 1920, having an estimated 1200 citizens in 1916-17. By 1920, the population had dropped once again to 803.
As the economic stability of the coal and coke industry has eroded, the population of Wilkeson has continued a slow decline. Wilkeson School was constructed as the town approached the height of its economic vigor, a fact which explains its seemingly extraordinary size in relationship to the present-day population.
The planning stages for construction of the Wilkeson School are recorded in the minutes of the Board of Directors meetings of School District #15. On March 25th, 1912, the topic of a new school was first discussed. At that meeting, "Chairman Hunt was instructed to get necessary information relative to site, etc. also to see some reliable architect." The question of an appropriate site for the new school was to be taken up with Wilkeson Coal and Coke Company and with the Northern Pacific Railroad. Property for the school site was ultimately purchased from the Northwest Improvement Company for $300.00 on October 17th, 1912.
On July 1st of the same year, the Board voted to hire the architects Federick Heath, George Gove, and C. F. W. Lundberg of Tacoma to prepare plans and specifications according to their previously submitted sketches. The District determined to issue bonds for a total of $25,000 in order to finance the construction. The issue was submitted to the voters of Wilkeson on July 8th, 1912. During the summer of 1912, the school board voted to rehire H. G. Davis, principal of the previous year, at a yearly salary of $1,260.00. The following teachers were also chosen for the 1912-1913 school term, to comprise the faculty of the new school: Anna O'Dea, Josephine Chaffee, Mary Hively, Frances Conrad, Anna H. Dadmum, and Nelle Pugh.
On August 16th, 1912, the Board received bids covering the alternative construction costs for building in both stone and brick. The $26,985 bid of contractor Dolph Jones of Tacoma, for a sandstone schoolhouse, was accepted on September 5th. Four days later at a meeting of the Board it was decided to deposit $300.00 with the Northern Pacific Railroad for the laying of a spur track to handle the shipment of construction materials. Bids were opened on December 7th for the installation of heating, ventilation, and plumbing. Minutes for meetings of the Board during 1913, while actual construction was in progress, are missing from the record. The building was apparently completed during the 1913-14 school year, as no further mention of construction matters is made when the recording of Board meeting minutes resumes in April of 1914. A Wilkeson Record article of 1917 states that the building, "modern in every particular", was occupied at the time by the first eight grades, and was staffed by "a very efficient corps of teachers".
The Wilkeson School offers a well-preserved example of local, cut sandstone construction. The local sandstone deposit is the oldest and largest in the Pacific Northwest. The material was widely used throughout the region in such notable structures as the Pierce County Courthouse in Tacoma, the Washington State Capitol Buildings in Olympia, and the Vista House in Portland, Oregon. In the early decades of the century, the Wilkeson Quarry was noted for its prodigious output and for its advanced mechanical processes. Today the quarry operates much of its early machinery and is still capable of producing the elaborate architectural stonework that it manufactured in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The Wilkeson School was closed by the White River School District in the fall of 1971, following a severe levy defeat and the opening of new middle and elementary schools. Because a Citizens' Advisory Committee has recommended that the school not be razed, the building still stands although it suffers from lack of adequate maintenance. Wilkeson School has been judged by the school district as physically unadaptable to modern school programs. The building is now leased by the Grace Church Assembly of Tacoma and is occupied only during the summer months as a church retreat.
Building Description
The Wilkeson School is a substantial, classically-influenced structure located at the south end of the tiny village of Wilkeson. The spacious, grassy play area which surrounds the building is bounded naturally to the rear by wooded ridges. The school and the town of Wilkeson itself are sheltered by the rising slopes of Mt. Rainier to the southeast.
A two-story structure with a full, daylight basement, the school is a simple rectangle in plan. Although not an example of the style in its purest form, the school clearly shows the influence of the Neo-Classical Revival in its massing and detail. The load-bearing walls of locally quarried, cut sandstone are laid in broken courses. The joints of the masonry have been repointed in an poor fashion, apparently using a mortar with a high content of Portland cement. The sandstone itself resembles granite, being light grey in color and non-friable in texture.
The school is noteworthy as well for its bold ornamental details executed in wood. The design of these elements draws upon a combination of the Doric and Tuscan orders. A massive wooden cornice featuring heavy mutules surrounds the entire structure, and is topped by a sandstone parapet wall. The school has a flat roof which slopes gently toward the rear of the building. In a central position above the front elevation is a wood-framed bell tower sheathed with sheet copper.
The street facade of the Wilkeson School is characterized by five major bays. The central bay projects slightly forward from the plane of the wall. Two major entrances to the building are recessed behind arched structural openings in each outer bay. The entrances are further defined by generously proportioned porticoes of wood. Doric-influenced columns on low stone walls are constructed of vertical wooden planks and have been given a slight entasis. These columns support full projecting entablatures with molded, dentilled cornices. Above the porticoes of either outermost bay, are windows with multi-light, double sash divided vertically by sturdy wooden mullions. These windows are topped by bracketed entablatures with pediments.
The centermost bay of the street facade contains similar double sash units at each of three stories. Above the heavy cornice is a small ornamental wooden: pediment that obscures the stone parapet behind it. The remaining bays of this elevation feature bands of five window units at each story. Individual window units are multi-paned, and are each divided vertically by wooden mullions. Fenestration on the side and rear elevation of the school is similarly designed. All window openings have metal lintels, most faced with stone, as well as stone sills.
The bell tower consists of a domical vault, copper-covered, which was originally supported by a series of small wooden columns. The drum of this open cupola has since been enclosed with wood sheathing. No other alterations of major import have occurred on the exterior of the school. With the exception of deteriorated portions of the wooden cornice, the building's architectural fabric remains in sound condition.
The interior floor plan of Wilkeson School is essentially intact. Broad central hallways and rear corner staircases provide circulation. Classrooms are spacious, well-lit by generous window openings, and traditionally oriented with cloakrooms to the rear and blackboards at the front. The principal's office is situated on the main floor; cafeterias and restrooms in the basement. Fluorescent lighting has been installed in most locations throughout the school. The interior of the school building is not as well-preserved as the exterior. Some vandalism and interior alterations have occurred.
