Demolition begins on Adams Elementary, once the second-oldest operating schoolhouse in Spokane Public Schools

Under an overcast sky and near-constant drizzle Monday, the demolition of the 116-year-old Adams Elementary schoolhouse began.

Before Monday, it was the second-oldest school in Spokane Public Schools still enrolling kids in its original structure, built in 1910 with several additions over the years. The oldest operating schoolhouse in the district is Franklin Elementary, its oldest sections built a year before Adams.

The demolition was spurred by the passage of a $200 million November bond initiative, which will generate property taxes to fund the replacement of Adams, as well as Madison Elementary in the north and many other upgrades to existing schools.

As rain fell on the demolition crew, excavators clawed at tree stumps on the school’s property on 37th Avenue. The entirety of the playfield in the back of the school was reduced to soft dirt, demolition vehicles kneading track marks into the exposed earth.

Another excavator could be seen perched on a pile of bricks where the school’s gym used to be. The machine’s jaws held a rusted iron I-beam that the operator used to scrape up bricks and chunks of concrete into the pile it sat atop.

With the gym gone, the empty inside of the school’s front office could be seen from the street.

Adams Elementary students and staff vacated the school before winter break in December, temporarily moving to the old Jefferson Elementary at 37th Avenue and Grand Boulevard during demolition and construction of a new Adams.

They’ll continue to learn at that school, dubbed “Camp Adams,” until the new space is finished, likely in time for the 2027-2028 school year. The new school will be built in a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Spokane County, which uses part of the space for their Southern location.

The historic nature of the schoolhouse was a point of pride for its staff, also eager for a modern building to teach their students in. School Principal Beth Nye said on multiple occasions she hoped to preserve parts of her school’s history, namely the “best floors in Spokane,” creaky hardwood in the center of the school from 1910.

District Spokesperson Ryan Lancaster said Nye took with her a sign above the office door and the “old-time staff directory” outside the office.

She’s working with the demolition team to salvage flooring, bricks and a painting of the original school that hung in the hallway outside the gym, Lancaster said.

For others in the community with ties to the school, Lancaster said construction crews were setting up a pile of bricks on an adjacent street for people to take as a souvenir.