Lc Artifacts Will Be Sold Sept. 18 Proceeds Will Go To Organ Overhaul

Thu., Sept. 9, 1999

Carlos Acevedo Staff Writer

Lewis and Clark High School’s ongoing modernization project is opening up a trove of historic artifacts to the public.

The Spokane Preservation Advocates, a local historical preservation group, is working with the school district and school officials to auction or sell vintage items from the school’s interior on Sept. 18.

Bookshelves, telephones, woodshop tools, woodwork and other fixtures will be on the block.

Otherwise, the items would have been destroyed during the demolition portion of the project, said SPA advocacy chair Joan Hollowell, who organized the auction.

The auction and sale will be held in LC’s auditorium, W. 521 Fourth, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. People will be allowed to preview the items from 8 to 10 a.m.

“It is our hope that things that aren’t going to be used in the school can be used by people who value historic artifacts,” Hollowell said.

Money from the auction will be used to help pay for the restoration and preservation of LC’s historic pipe organ, built in 1924.

The rare Austin pipe organ was purchased for the school by students, who started raising money in 1921.

At the time, the organ cost $23,000. Restoring it now will cost an estimated $270,000, said architect Steve McNutt.

While the organ can still produce a tune, he said, it has started to deteriorate from age.

“It’s got a bunch of parts and pieces that aren’t functional,” he said.

The organ will be taken apart piece by piece, packed in crates and removed from the auditorium before construction begins to prevent damage from dust.

Then the organ will be shipped to a company not yet selected to refurbish and repair the components.

Part of that job will include souping up the guts of the organ with digital parts to update the original electro-mechanical messaging system. Once completed, operators will be able to digitally program multiple-note chord settings and digitally record music, McNutt said.

The organ will be put back together after construction on the high school has been completed.

Hollowell said the auction is a graceful solution to two problems: preserving the school’s fixtures, which she hopes people put to good use, and taking care of the rare organ.

`If we could save it and keep it as a memento of our earlier days, that is one of the best things we could do with that money,” she said.

“We need our history to remind us of our past and help us create our future.”

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