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Wasilla Elementary School

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1917

A simple one-room schoolhouse, the Wasilla Elementary School was constructed in 1917, shortly after the townsite had been laid out. A larger school was built in 1934, but with the arrival of the Matanuska colonists, that new school was soon overflowing and the old school was pressed back into service. It also served as a community hall and temporary church.

The one-story, one-room schoolhouse measures approximately 22 feet by 36 feet and is wood-framed with beveled siding. On the interior, narrow, beaded boards are used for wainscoting, stained and placed vertically, and for wall coverings, painted white and placed horizontally. The tray ceiling is covered with the same material.

Originally located about three blocks away, the school was built on wood posts. A concrete foundation was added in the 1930s. The school was moved to its present site in 1979 and placed on a wood post foundation.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Alison K. Hoagland
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Data

What's Nearby

Frontier Village
Dorothy Page Museum (Wasilla Community Hall)
Teeland's
Alaska Railroad Depot
Birchwood Station

Citation

Alison K. Hoagland, "Wasilla Elementary School", [Wasilla, Alaska], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AK-01-SC083.1.

Print Source

Buildings of Alaska, Alison K. Hoagland. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 128-129.

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