Friends of Grand Mound School

10/10/2023

We acknowledge that the Historic Grand Mound School is located on the traditional land of the Chehalis Nation. This land has been their home for thousands of years, and we honor their ancestors for the wisdom and stewardship they have provided for millennia.

The schoolhouse stands on a 2.5 acre parcel of lush prairie land with locust trees, wild prairie grasses, and wild camas that have been here long before the schoolhouse. These indigenous plants were gathered by Indigenous peoples each spring.

We pay our respects to the Chehalis Elders, past and present. We commit to learning more about The Chehalis Tribe News history, the culture, and the ongoing struggles faced by Indigenous peoples.

We are committed to building respectful and meaningful relationships with Tribal Members, so as we continue restoration of the Grand Mound School, we can properly recognize and honor those ancestors who went to school here.

09/16/2023

I learned last week from a former student of the Historic Grand Mound school that the lovely wooded property to the north, owned by the Steelhammer Family Trust, has another Grand Mound historic site !

It’s called Woody’s Nook - Community Dance Hall. Unfortunately it burned down in the 50s taking with it a few local homes.

All that’s left, are these moss covered steps (about 15’ across!) and what appears to be a cement sign that perhaps in the day said Woody’s Nook!

I’ve heard a lot about people’s parents having met at Woody’s Nook, but I had no idea there was still any remnants left! Please share stories if you have them, and finding a photo of it would be GOLDEN!

Does anyone know an  archaeologist, in the area? Would be cool to get permission from the owner to see if there might be anything left of the foundation.

The last image is a photograph of the Historic Grand Mound School and schoolyard taken from the Steelhammer land looking to the South. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful park-like part of the PNW!

09/10/2023

This sweet old schoolhouse has served thousands of young minds since it first opened its doors over 100 years ago.

Right now, we’re actively working to restore the exterior of the Grand Mound School to its original 1922 appearance. Many past students remember it as solid red with no mortar visible, and others ask - “What happened to the varigated bricks & grey mortar? “

After a lot of research, we found the answer buried in the Dist #22 School Board minutes. In 1957, there was a special SB meeting called to discuss options for dealing with failing mortar on the GM School. It was literally crumbling, which would eventually destabilize the entire structure.

Repointing the building was not within the SB budget. So after much deliberation, a solution was agreed upon. It was called “ColorCrete”- a thin red lightweight cement that, when sprayed on the entire surface, would theoretically coat & seal everything from further degradation. It was a great decision, and has held up well!

However after the school was decommissioned in 1970, someone decided to paint it white. That paint is long past its prime and is peeling profusely.

It seemed an insurmountable problem to resolve, until as a textile artist JA FELT, I had a commission to paint bricks on fabric as part of a theatre set…and I made some brick shaped sponges…an audacious solution was born!

We have tested & refined a process we call “re-bricking” envisioned specifically for the Historic Grand Mound School. We’ve pressure washed the South side, sealed the red “ColorCrete” with a thick durable primer, and painstakingly put on a high quality base coat - the color of mortar.

Following the outlines of the original bricks I’m sponging them back on - one by one!
Yes it is slow, and rather avant guarde, but the result is nothing short of amazing. In fact, many people look at it and assume we’re chipping away plaster to reveal the bricks - until they get up to the surface. 😇

As Justice Louis D. Brandeis once said (he served on the Supreme Court 1916-39):

“Most of the things worth doing in the world have been declared impossible BEFORE they were done.”

History becomes more precious with every passing year, and too easily fades and disappears before we realize it’s too late. So if anyone out there is a history buff and wants to help with more research - please message us!

08/02/2023

Thank You to the more than fourty people who came to the Grand Mound School Reunion on July 15, 2023! A special shout out to Marcy Borden-Mckenzie who crafted the plan to visit and Kitty Smith who I’d like to say was the guest of honor - because she shared stories from a teacher’s perspective (and librarian as well)!

If you left a donation - MANY THANKS! We added it to the paint primer piggy bank. Drive by and you’ll see the progress thanks to your generosity!

More photos of the progress to follow.

07/12/2023

Excited to report that the historic Grand Mound School is mentioned in the July/ August Smithsonian Magazine !

I’m one of the owners of GMS, and use the schoolhouse as my studio & lab. It’s an incredible honor to have my work featured in this article and I’m very happy to have GM School mentioned & included in one of photos!

A river of fabric? Janice Arnold’s installations, inspired by the people of Central Asia, go to great lengths to evoke wonder

09/15/2022

We are honored to report that the Thurston County Historical Commission has voted to APPROVE adding the Grand Mound School onto the Thurston County Historic Register at their most recent meeting. We are thrilled!

Thank you to the commissioners and everyone who made comments on this page, wrote letters to Thurston County & testified at the public hearing! Together we made a difference!

We are far from over the hurdle of work. It is a very SLOW & messy process to get where we are headed.

The color photo above was taken Sept 1, 2022 after pressure washing the peeling white paint paint on the south side of the GM School.

The B&W photo was taken in 1957 after the School Board approved the red cement coating which was sprayed onto the bricks to stabilize the mortar.

Watch for more posts about this part of the story as we slog along towards restoration.

09/10/2022

Class Photos shared by Cathy Barnes Thomas who went to school here from 1957-1959. Do you recognize anyone?

Exciting News! The Grand Mound School’s Public Hearing to determine if it should be on the Thurston County Register, is around the corner. You can share your comments before 4pm Sept 14th 2022. You can ZOOM, call in, or write an email.

Details below:
PUBLIC HEARING-Wednesday, September 14, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. VIA ZOOM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88173363292 ;

Enter Passcode: 326385

VIA PHONE:
Dial:1-253-215-8782;
Webinar ID:
881 7336 3292; Password: 326385

Can’t attend? but want to express an opinion?
Comment open until 4pm, 14 Sept.

EMAIL:
[email protected]

Snail Mail or In person: County CourtHouse Bldg #1, Rm 280,
2000 Lakeridge Drive SW Olympia 98502

09/02/2022

Does anyone remember the Chehalis Brick & Tile Company? Last week I was trying to determine where the bricks from the Grand Mound Schoolhouse were made.

The search took me to the , where I spent the day reading articles from their files on the brick industry. What a wealth of knowledge!

Chehalis Brick & Tile Company was the oldest industry in Chehalis founded in 1902 by George H. Burrows. Burrows had been making bricks on Vashon Island since 1888, and moved to Chehalis to have a more central location.

As the only brick & masonry suppliers in the region, and noted brick suppliers for hospital and schools in Western Washington it seems logical to conclude that the GM School bricks were manufactured here.

The photo is how the Chehalis Brick & Tile Company looked in 1902. local Thurston Rochester, Grand Mound

08/25/2022

Grand Mound School is 100 years old this year! We know there are a lot of people connected to its past - students, teachers, administrators, history buffs and more.

We hope this page will become a place to connect and build community by sharing memories, photos, stories and trivia.

Everyone and anyone is welcome to share and follow - even if you were in the hospital here, or attended one the churches that were here after the school was decommissioned. If you are have visited, volunteered or worked with Janice & Stan in the Schoolhouse studios - please share your experiences! Everything is part of the life story of Grand Mound School House.

How did we come to be here? 33 years ago we (Janice Arnold & Stan Klyne) discovered this 1922 two-story brick building for sale, standing vacant in the middle of a two acre prairie schoolyard. It reminded us of the brick buildings of our youth, where we had gone to school - buildings that have sadly since been demolished and lost.

We were self employed artists with two young kids, looking for studio space - and were very intrigued. So much so, that we saw beyond the dire state of disrepair it was in caused by years of neglect and abuse.

We fell in love with it.
We didn’t intend to, it happened inadvertently.

We were smitten by the potential of the interior spaces, the rare elegant open design, unusual for a building of this period and use. The slate black-boards wrapping the classrooms, bathed in natural light throughout the day from banks of tall windows. Together the spaces offered a balance and connection with the environment that most contemporary buildings lack.

They just don’t make buildings like this anymore! Too often, beautiful old buildings are demolished with the excuse that it’s not ‘practical’ to restore them - without acknowledging the environmental and cultural costs when destroyed. To rehab this building is a fraction of what the environmental cost would be to build a new building of equivalent size from new materials.

Even so there were times we wanted to give up, overwhelmed by the unending lists of work requiring energy and resources we didn’t have. These were times it felt more like a curse than a blessing. But we couldn’t walk away…

I’m sure it was in part, due to the collective spirits of thousands of children that went to school here, where they expanded their horizons through education.

The more research and work we do the more appreciation we have for it. We’re grateful we were romantic enough to see beyond the frightful conditions - (far worse than we imagined) and could muster the courage and patience to keep going.

We have immense pride that we have saved it from a wrecking ball. Even though it is still slow going, we feel we’ve reached a tipping point towards our restoration goal to give it the respect and honor it deserves - towards bringing back it’s 1922 grandeur, and hopefully recognized on the Thurston County Historic Register. All steps to help ensure it stands strong
as a community landmark for at least another hundred years!

Thanks for listening!