Pioneer School House
in Anchorage, United StatesCategory: Attraction
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437 E 3rd Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501, USA Print route »
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The Pioneer School House is a historic former school building at 3rd Avenue and Eagle Street in Anchorage, Alaska. The two story building was designed and built by the Alaska Engineering Commission in 1915 during the first year of the city's growth. The Alaska Engineering Commission was building railroads in the state. The school served about ninety elementary and high school students in 1915 and 1916. Orah Dee Clark was the first superintendent of the school. It was used as a social hall by the Pioneers of Alaska Igloo 15 from the 1920s until 1964.It is a hipped roof building 30.3 by 48.3 feet (9.2 m × 14.7 m) in plan, covered by shiplap siding. The building was moved across the street to its current location in 1917 or after.
The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Its NRHP nomination notes:
In its era, the school was labeled "entirely inadequate," "insanitary," and was characteristically "of an order of the early eighteenth century." The school lacked paint, restrooms, running water, a satisfactory heating system, and a solid foundation. The unheated, outdoor toilets did not meet town site standards. Despite the shortcomings, the school was able to launch public education in Anchorage.
