A look at the life and times of Agate School

In June 1912, parents of children attending Chapman's Cove, Miller, and Cape Horn Schools (all located in an area between Hammersley Inlet and Oakland Bay) met at the local grange hall and voted unanimously to consolidate the three districts. Two weeks later, County School Superintendent Ada Myers filed a certificate of formation for consolidated school district number 300, and in October, Mr. C. H. Nelson began building a new four-room schoolhouse at Hoballa.

The school building was completed and fully furnished by the time school started in fall 1913. In March 1914, it was announced that the District 300 school had been named Agate School. In September 1915, a small barn was built to house the horse of the teacher, Miss Lloyd.

In an undated interview, Phyllis Brown Libby, who started first grade at the Agate School in 1914, said originally there were two classrooms - one for grades one through three and one for grades four through six. Classes for grades seven through 11 were added later. Phyllis' father built a shed near the Ira Libby home where children could wait for Al Linton and his two-horse-team buggy to pick them up and drive them to school. On snowy days, Al hitched the horses to a sled.

Elsie Turner Vanderwal attended Agate School for one year, when she was 14. Her family made an arrangement with the school whereby Elsie would drive a horse and wagon carrying herself, her two sisters, and a neighbor to and from school and the school would provide feed and a place for the horse. Every school day morning, Elsie harnessed the horse, hitched it the wagon, and drove 6 miles to school. Once there, she unhitched the horse and fed it before going in to her lessons. At the end of the day, she did it all in reverse.

Notes from the Shelton-Mason County Journal correspondent for the Agate area give a glimpse of school life over the next few years. On Sept. 15, 1915, "school was let out at 2:00 and some pupils cleaned up the school yard while others dug holes for basketball posts. A bear was seen by children in the school wagon on the road near Woodall's." In December, "the school wagon does not make good time, since it has started to rain and the road is very muddy." In March 1916, a new pupil enrolled, raising the total enrollment to 57.

In April 1917, a preparedness drill was held in the high school room. Mr. Hays spoke on "How Boys and Girls Can Help" in the war - some were planning on planting gardens. Mr. Hays also conducted a military drill each day at noon. Schools throughout the county were closed for six weeks in late 1918 due to the influenza epidemic. In June 1922, the building was raised, a basement was added, and rooms were built for manual training and domestic science classes, as well as a modern heating and ventilating plant. On April 9, 1920, "pupils of the upper room hiked and forded streams to get to Allyn, where they engaged in a baseball game in which Allyn was victorious."

In August 1946, a news article in the Journal reported that two Agate boys, ages 10 and 12, had completely wrecked the Agate schoolhouse "for fun." They broke windows, reduced school desks to kindling wood, tore sinks and wash basins from walls, and threw an oil stove and school benches in the well. Chalk was ground into the floor and door panels were broken out. The boys used a double-bitted ax for much of the damage. Judge J. M. Wilson gave the vandals "a good talking to" before releasing them to their parents. He ordered the boys to clean up the destruction and their parents to pay for it.

On May 22, 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Goodrow, returning to Agate from Shelton at about 9 p.m., noticed a glow inside the school and smoke coming from the windows. They hurried to notify school janitor Elmer Julian, who lived nearby. Elmer was able to get the brand new 18-passenger school bus out of the garage attached to the school, but found it impossible to enter the school itself.

At its height, the fire created a glow that could be seen 20 miles away. The Forestry Department had three trucks and crews battling the blaze, the Shelton fire department was also on the scene with a truck, and about 100 people showed up hoping to help. But the fire was so far advanced by the time it was discovered that firefighters could do nothing except prevent it from spreading to nearby trees.

In addition to the school building and its contents including all school records, the Agate Grange and the Agate Sunday School, both of which met in the building, also lost everything. When the ashes cooled, only the huge metal school bell and one small can of baking powder were found. County School Superintendent J.W. Goodpaster estimated damage at $50,000 - of which only $7,000 was covered by insurance. The cause of the fire was never determined, but it appeared to have started in the basement, where there was an automatic electric furnace.

The school bus made its regular run the next day to inform the waiting youngsters that they had "graduated the night before" because there was no school left for the 45 students to go to. Fortunately, there were only seven school days remaining.

Construction had already begun on a new Agate Grange Hall, and for the next two years, the Agate School District paid the grange $50 a month to hold classes in the new hall. Meanwhile, a decision was made to consolidate Agate and the Oakland Bay School District into a new District 402, and Pioneer School was built to accommodate students from the two former districts. (The three remaining students at the Harstine Island School began attending Pioneer School in 1968.)