Columbia School

Columbia served the Harvard Hills area of Washington on a bend in Spring Creek Road for over 100 years before consolidating with Washington Central District 51 in 1974.

The beginning of a school in the Harvard Hills area has been lost to time, but evidence exists as far back as 1872, when it was known as Ficht School. The original school was about a half mile north at the western turn in the road.

Just after the turn of the century the building was moved to its later and final location, with additions occurring in conjunction with the move. This one-room school building (pictured below) fit the needs of the area for around forty years. During this time the school was surrounded by farmland.

With the development of the Harvard Hills subdivision in the early 1940s, the increase in enrollment led to a digging of a basement under the school building, which enabled the housing all eight grades of Columbia School District 49 until the 1960s.

In 1961 a $30,000 addition was approved that added two classrooms, an office, and improved restrooms.

In 1971, Columbia approached Central District 51 about consolidation. Central empathized with the situation at District 49, but there was not nearly a large enough tax base in Columbia’s district footprint to make it feasible for Central at the time. By 1974, the tax base had almost tripled with new construction in the area, and on July 1, 1974 Columbia School District 49 consolidated with Central.

Central continued to use the Columbia School building for decades as part of their district until 2011 when it was sold, and most recently was used as an office building.