Lewis & Clark High School

About this property

Lewis and Clark High School is a four-year public secondary school in Spokane, Washington, United States. Opened in 1912, it is located at 521 W. Fourth Ave. in the Cliff/Cannon neighborhood of downtown Spokane, bounded by I-90 to the north and MultiCare Deaconess Hospital to the west. It replaced South Central High School, destroyed by fire in 1910, and was named for the two leaders of the Corps of Discovery. Central School, a two-story wooden building, was the first school located on the southwest block at Fourth and Stevens. A four-room school, it opened 143 years ago in October 1883. In 1890, citizens voted bonds to build a new high school and four elementary schools. The old Central school building was moved to the corner of Fifth and Bernard and became a private school. The new high school, first known as "Spokane High School," was constructed on the Fourth and Stevens site and opened in 1891. By 1906, the influx of immigrants and subsequent boom in Spokane's population created a need for a second high school. North Central High School was built and opened in 1908 to serve the students on the north side the river. Spokane High School became known as South Central High School. Fire destroyed South Central High School in 1910, shortly after sunrise on June 21. The blaze destroyed the interior of the school but left the remains of the exterior walls standing. In January 1911, citizens passed a bond issue of $500,000 to pay for replacement of the school. In a ceremony, former President Teddy Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the school on April 8, 1911. Students attended classes at North Central while work progressed on the new school. Problems in construction and strikes by workers delayed the opening until April 1912. Meanwhile, the Spokane Daily Chronicle encouraged readers to enter a contest to suggest names for the new high school. Richard Hargreaves, the principal of North Central, suggested the names of Lewis and Clark, using one name for each high school, North and South Central. The school board settled for naming the south side school Lewis and Clark High School. Between 1999 and 2001 the school underwent a major renovation and addition. This included addition of new classrooms to the east side of the school, replacement of the former field house with a new E. L. Hunter Field House, and a skybridge over S. Stevens Street to the east to connect the school building to the new field house. In 2020, a third complex with a commons and cafeteria was added with two floors of classrooms, connected to the west side of the main building. In 2001, the school was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places and The Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Places.

Location

Categories

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.

More in Spokane County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Spokane County.

More historic places in Washington

Browse all historic places in Washington.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Washington history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.