History comes alive as relatives relive Skagit City School's glory days

Community members gathered around the Skagit City School Sunday, July 16, for the annual Skagit City School Picnic, hosted by the Skagit County Historical Museum. 

Live music filled the air as a breeze worked its way through the sunny front lawn of the school, dancing around attendees as they ate lunch provided by the La Conner Rotary and joined their community for an afternoon of talk, trivia and treasuring the legacy of the school before them.

Picnickers cycled through the display room, breathing in the memories of their families. One person remarked that their mother-in-law had attended, while another mentioned that a member of their family had helped hang the bell that rests in the school's steeple. 

This lasting impact, honoring both the history of the school and the history of family members of the attendees that were students all those years ago is the appeal of the school. Its continued care has kept those memories alive. 

Indeed, it's a longstanding and beloved legacy, seeing the long-term effort the Museum has put into renovating the schoolhouse to keep it standing. 

"It really is the product of blood, sweat and tears," said Museum Director Jo Wolfe, calling the history of the school's renovations, "a real labor of love."

The school's caretakers have shifted many times over the years, moving from the original builders to consolidation with Conway and to the Skagit City Community Club, which maintained it until they lost their 501(c)(3) status and could no longer keep up with needed repairs. The community club then contacted the Museum and asked if they wanted it, to which the Museum happily said yes.

From there, the challenge was repairing the schoolhouse, addressing the lack of foundation, visible tilt to the building, lack of a bathroom and broken and boarded up windows. Today, it would be hard to even tell that such intense refurbishments have gone on as the building stands out beautifully along Moore Road. 

The schoolhouse sports an iconic russet red trim against the cream-colored exterior, leading to a lovely sage green interior with large windows overlooking the fields behind it. Relics of the school and previous picnics lined the walls, creating a portal to the past.

The pièce de résistance was the temporary display, located in the front room of the school, that lined the walls with pictures of the school back in the early 1900s, its many students and newspaper clippings featuring updates about the school's care. The Museum recently concluded a fundraiser for the creation of display panels. Wolfe hopes that the permanent exhibit will be available to view by this fall. 

In addition to the care that the community and Museum have endowed, the Skagit City School Experiences program has continued the legacy of learning within the school, teaching area students about how the school would have run back in the day through field trips. 

"It's a unique thing trying to get the community back involved," remarked Mark Hansen, sitting with his family. They come to the picnic for years, honoring the previous generations in his family who attended the school as students. 

The afternoon proved that this community involvement was a success and has secured the continued legacy of the school for years to come. 

If you're interested in getting involved with the school but don't want to wait for next year's picnic, the Skagit County Historical Museum is looking for community members to purchase fifteen poplar trees for $60 each to protect the school from wind and rain.