Then and Now: Early Spokane schools

Mon., March 2, 2026

1901: A composite photo, a common technique in early newspapers, shows five Spokane schools: Bryant, clockwise from bottom left, Washington, Franklin and Lincoln schools with Hawthorne in the center. The schools were located in the downtown area and were replaced in the 20th century with modern structures. (Spokesman-Review Photo Archives)

By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com (509) 459-5378

A photo collage shows five of Spokane’s early schools around 1901 and each building reflects new acceptance of public education in a prosperous city with optimism about its future.

None of these buildings stand s today, each one replaced throughout the 20th century.

Only Bryant School was built with the same name in the same location as its 1890 predecessor. The 1958 Bryant has midcentury architecture typified by a single story building with large windows.

These schools offered primary through eighth-grade classes. Early in the 20th century, high school was still seen as optional. Separate buildings for elementary and junior high were a few years away.

The Franklin School was built along Front Avenue, now called Spokane Falls Boulevard, east of Division Street in an area surrounded by many railroad tracks and warehouses. New warehouses soon surrounded the school and the building was sold to the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway around 1909.

A new Franklin Elementary was started in 1909 on 17th Avenue and Mount Vernon Street, where it still stands today.

The old Franklin burned down in 1910 in an unsolved arson fire.

Washington School, first opened in 1896, was on the eastern edge of Browne’s Addition, bounded by Maple Street, and Riverside and First avenues. In the late 1960s, the building was used for job training and housed an alternative program called Continuation High School before it was torn down in 1973.

The three-story Lincoln School was built at Fifth Avenue and Cowley Street in downtown Spokane around 1890. The school was gutted by fire in 1926, but rebuilt and opened again in 1929. In the 1960s, the building was used for children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. It was torn down in the 1970s, and the site was sold off.

Hawthorne School was built at Fourth Avenue at Wall Street in 1898. After serving as a grade school, the building housed the Works Progress Administration during the Depression years, then became part of the Spokane Vocational and Technical School in the 1940s. It was last called the Lewis and Clark Annex, being torn down in 1966 to clear the route of Interstate 90.