Cascade School, also known as Cascade Elementary School, is a schoolhouse located in a residential area of Chehalis, Washington. The school, converted into an apartment building in 2025, was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2026.
The one-floor, Neo-classical revival schoolhouse was built between Market Street and Cascade Avenue in 1922, replacing an existing school building known as East Side School. A lack of funds prevented the full plans of the construction to be implemented. The school's gymnasium was completed in 1923, a classroom and basement addition was finished in 1924, and two wings were constructed in 1925 and 1956 to accommodate a growing student population. The school underwent several modernization and remodeling projects between the 1950s and 1970s.
The East Side School's footprint and prior playground were expanded multiple times for Cascade School recreation purposes, including efforts for a new playground and a tennis court in the 1920s, as well as the build of an athletic field and grandstand for the city's high school in the 1930s. A covered play shed was added to the playground in 1960.
The size of Cascade School, since its beginnings, was never large enough to house the number of elementary students in the city. Additional schools were built in Chehalis due to a lack of space at Cascade. By the 1990s and 2000s, the "usable lifespan" of the schoolhouse had been exceeded. The facility became a safety and financial concern, requiring large amounts of funding for renovations, repairs, and retrofitting. Efforts to publicly fund either a replacement of the building, or to update Cascade School, began in 2010. A bond was passed in 2015 to construct a campus of two elementary schools in Chehalis; the schools were completed in 2018 and students from Cascade began transferring to the new campus.
The last students taught at Cascade School was a third grade class during the spring semester, 2019. During vacancy, the schoolhouse was proposed to be either demolished as a future multi-use, commercial site or be converted into a residential facility. The building was sold in 2021 and remodeled as an apartment building. The schoolhouse became known as Cascade Apartments and opened for residential use in 2025.
Background The first known school in Chehalis, originally named Saundersville or "Saunders Bottom", was held in an "abandoned log cabin" during the early 1850s. Classes were moved to a cabin on the land claim of the O. B. McFadden House where students were taught until the 1870s.
The first official school in Chehalis was located on the second floor of the city's first courthouse after the structure was built and opened in 1874. The school district was known at the time as, District No. 3 Saunder's Prairie. The students were relocated to an elementary, one room schoolhouse that was built in 1876 at the southwest corner of Center and State streets; the construction was reported to cost $600, . A second classroom was added in 1884 at a listed cost of .
East Side School
The East Side School was built beginning in 1889 and was the city's second, official organized school. The facility was built for $10,000, , on a lot located in the downtown district on Market Street. Originally meant for use as a high school, the wood-framed schoolhouse was known succinctly as "The High School" and consisted of a first floor meant for elementary students; the second floor was used for the high school. The school opened in September 1890.
Amid further demand for more schools in the city's growing population during the time, an elementary schoolhouse known as the West Side School was constructed in 1894 in the Pennsylvania Avenue-West Side Historic District; the East Side School temporarily became a high school-only facility. The continuation of a growing population required upgrades and additions to both schools in 1904.
As the downtown area grew, and space becoming more necessary for commercial expansion, the East Side School was moved in 1909 to Cascade Avenue between 2nd and 3rd streets. The school was used primarily for elementary level education in 1910 after the construction of the Chehalis High School. The school became known as the South Ward School but the name was officially changed to Cascade School in October 1913. The student assembly submitted a petition for the name change to the school board which accepted the proposal.
The student population in Chehalis by 1913 was recorded at 1,200 pupils. Up until the 1914 school year, the East Side-Cascade School was known to contain a larger portion of the city's elementary students than the West Side School. A city ruling that year required that any student above third grade living on the east side of Chehalis, and north of Main Street, was to attend West Side School. Protests over costs, as well as the dangers of pupils traveling over railroad tracks to do so, led to protests by parents.
A gymnasium for students of any age had long been lacking in the city. Chehalis High School students began efforts in November 1916 to construct a temporary gym structure on the grounds of the Cascade School; it was funded through donations. The footprint spanned and contained bleachers, dressing rooms, and a court. The completed project was funded by "obligation" at a cost of and the students held fundraisers to pay down the debt. By May 1917, payments decreased the obligation by 75%.
The lack of adequate school facilities and classrooms became increasingly more urgent. By 1919, a new bond system was introduced in the city to better accommodate the raising of funds and taxes for the school district and future expansion of the school system. The two elementary schools and high schools were noted to be "crowded to the limit". The school district also noted that the deterioration of East Side School mandated a new schoolhouse be constructed within three years. Due to overcrowding, some students were taught in "portable" buildings by 1920.
By 1921, the schoolhouse floor was noted to be unlevel, doors in the building could not close, and the plaster walls were inundated with cracks. The school, "without exaggeration", was referred to as "antiquated" and a "fire trap". Declared by the city's fire chief as a "public menace", the East Side School was condemned in May 1924; the gymnasium remained in use through the end of the year to hold practice games for local basketball clubs.
The schoolhouse was razed in 1926. The grounds of the original Cascade School were proposed by the school board for the site of a junior high school in 1927.
History Funding and contracts With the continued issues of age, maintenance costs, and overcrowding of East Side School, a school district vote was announced in September 1920 to permit the school board to authorize a purchase of 36 lots between the school building and Market Street that was to lead to the construction of a new Cascade School. The parcel had been used as a playground for students since the East Side building was relocated. The authorization was approved with over 84% of voters in favor of the purchase. The new schoolhouse was planned to be built next to the 1916 gymnasium despite high insurance costs due to fire risks.
A bond of , was authorized by public vote in early April 1921 to construct the school building; the district met with the architectural firm, Hill, Mock & Griffin, a Tacoma-based architectural firm that specialized in schoolhouse design, to begin the preliminary design phase. No bids to back the bonds were received, however, until three Chehalis banks offered to do so in June. The contract to construct the schoolhouse was awarded to Pat Manning in October 1921; his brother, Ethan, was given the contract to install the heating system. Plumbing installation was under the contract of Fred Swinth; the Manning brothers and Swinth were Chehalis contractors. Construction was noted to have been fast-paced and by February 1922, "rapidly nearing completion". By March, the school was reported to be nearly complete.
Construction
The quick construction led to several complaints, including cracks in the plaster walls and concerns that the building included a "waste of space". The main issue was visible cracks in the foundation wall. The cracks were listed by the architects and workers at the site as normal and were due to the "natural expansion of concrete"; the foundation was considered to be "amply heavy enough" for the weight of the schoolhouse.
The main complainant, C.H. Clark, wrote a letter to the editor to The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. In his remarks, Clark stated that he was "ashamed of the taxpayers of Chehalis" due to receiving less support than he thought necessary in his claims. Clark further mentioned that the concrete was not just cracked but pieces had "broken off" in multiple places; he referred to the concrete issue not as an expansion problem, but one of settlement. He continued to question why the foundation's footing was increased from its initial plan of to in width, but the depth remained the same. Clark listed other concerns, such as the use of wooden posts underneath the structure, and questioned the "stuff" of the project's superintendent, Harry Shern, referring to Shern as a "straw boss". The school board responded that they would "hear the matter fully" if any evidence or "expert testimony" was provided that would call into question the "safety and security of lasting qualities" of the school building.
The gymnasium, due to a lack of budgeted funds and the speed of the construction, was partially finished. The school board, reported to be "unconcerned", stated that "a wave of local sentiment" from the residents of Chehalis would eventually help to raise funds to finish the recreation room; donated funds for the gymnasium allowed for its completion by the spring season of 1923.
At the time of its completion in 1922, the Cascade School was one-floor and contained 11 rooms. Original plans were for the structure to include three more rooms but a lack of funds at the time prevented the initial efforts.
Opening Cascade School opened on August 28, 1922 in time for the new school year and was described as the "latest thing in modern school building construction" and as "one of the most convenient and best built school houses of its class in southwest Washington"; the school was open to the public on September 15. The first principal was L.O. Cordz.
The Chehalis chapter of the Kiwanis Club, after the opening, began raising funds for a flag pole on the school grounds; the wooden pole, cut down near Chehalis, was painted and installed in late-January 1923. The portable classrooms located on the grounds were removed in August 1922 and repurposed for such at the Chehalis High School. The 1914 city ordinance regarding demarcations of school boarders and attendance, remained in place.
Cascade School was originally opened to students from first to eighth grades under the tutelage of 13 teachers. Due to the popularity of the new school, teachers were transferred from West Side School. Enrollment at Cascade School surpassed that of West Side School during the first year. The new school was credited for the "extensive" shift in the population of the city by the end of 1922, with residents and development moving to areas east and south of the downtown core of Chehalis.
The new school had been intentionally built on the parcel so that the building could be expanded at a later time. Efforts to construct concrete tennis courts on the grounds, under plans by a local Girl Scouts troop, began in March 1924.
Expansion