Hillyard High School

The original Hillyard High School building, built in 1907, had an initial enrollment of fourteen students and one teacher.  By 1911, the student population had grown exponentially to 105 students, symbolizing the growth of the town of Hillyard and the success of James Hill's railroad station in Hillyard.  The two-story, nine room brick structure had become far too small to support anymore students and in June of 1911, the citizens of Hillyard passed a bond measure of $50,000 for the contruction of a new high school.

Lacking little design characteristics, the new three-story brick structure, located on North Regal Street, graduated its first class of eight seniors in 1913 [1].

As Hillyard continued to grow in population, so did the student body of Hillyard High School.  By 1916, the senior class had expanded to twenty-five students and Hillyard decided to try and expand the school.  Voters rejected a bond measure and as a result, Hillyard students, angered by the failure of their town to expand the school, walked out of classes in protest.  It was not until 1922 that Hillyard would be able to procure the funds necessary for the expansion of the school and construction started that same year.  The new three-story annex would nearly double the classroom space of Hillyard High School and it also added a much needed gymnasium and an auditorium [2].

In 1932, to ease further congestion, John R. Rogers High School was built and 1932 was also the last year that Hillyard High School was used as a school.  The forty-eight students who graduated that year were the last to do so, thus transferring Hillyard's high school students to the new Rogers High School [3].

Absentee lanlords purchased the building in 1959, allowing it to fall into, by the 1980s, a state of disrepair.  Renamed the Martindale (after its new owners), the old Hillyard High School became known for its rampant crime rate and was, during the 1980s, representative of the decline of the Hillyard neighborhood's once prosperous and blossoming community.  The building was recently repurchased and an extensive remodeling project began.  The City of Spokane's Housing Authority spent $6.5 million on its renovation, a far cry from the initial price of $50,000 which financed the original building's contructon in 1912.  The old Hillyard High School may be gone, but the current apartment complex, still teeming with activity, is still a reminder of the old glory days of early 1900s Hillyard [4].

[1], [2], [3]  National Historic Register  http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/05000920.pdf
[4]  Spokesman-Review http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/19/new-apartments-cause-angst/