About this property
The Washington School is a historic school building in Washington, Utah. Built from 1908 to 1909, the structure was continuously used as a school until 1976. It was then used for various purposes including as office space by Washington City and was home to Millcreek High School from 1987 to 2001. Since 2003, the Washington City Historical Museum has been located in the building. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The school building is a two-story structure, built of sandstone. The façade displays a symmetrical seven over seven window piercing, and the roof shape is truncated hip with a central gable dormer. Its style is likened to two other nearby school buildings, the Woodward School and Academy Building. The Board of Trustees of the 9th School District solicited bids for the building's construction in spring 1908. Ira McMullin of nearby Leeds, Utah was the stonemason. In the 1920s, a gymnasium was added to the rear of the building. By the 1970s, the elementary had outgrown the structure, with students in grades five and six needing to be bused to nearby St. George, Utah for classes. As such, the Washington County School District constructed a new elementary school building in Washington City, which opened at the end of August 1976, allowing the school to move out of the old building. Although, until the final phase of construction of the new building was completed in 1980, some classrooms in the old structure continued to be used by the school district. In fall 1976, Washington City consolidated their offices into a central location in the east room of the old school building. The city offices remained here until June 1982, when a new city office building was opened. For a time in the mid-1980s, the Grace Baptist Church also utilized a room in the building. In fall 1982, Washington City agreed to purchase the school building and its surrounding grounds from the Washington County School Board for $95,000 (equivalent to $316,940 in 2025). Plans called for the grounds to be used as a public park and the building as a community center, possibly hosting a library branch and meeting space. The city provided the school district with the first $5,000 payment in April 1983, and per the contract would pay off the balance with annual payments of $9,000 for ten years. In 1987, the city allowed the school district to open Millcreek Alternative High School, an alternative school, in the historic structure. The city continued to use the main level of the building, while the high school was located on the upper floor. As the school district was making use of parts of the building, it agreed, in 1989, to accept improvements and repairs to the building made by the city in lieu of payments the city owed towards the purchase of the structure. In 1996, during centennial celebrations for Utah's statehood, students and staff from the high school created a mosaic-like mural for the foyer of the building. After a new building for the high school was constructed in St. George, the school moved out of the historic structure following the 2000–2001 school year.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Washington School listed on the National Register?
Washington School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 23, 1980.
What type of historic resource is Washington School?
Washington School is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Washington School?
The period of significance for Washington School is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1908.
Can I research the history near Washington School?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Washington School will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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