The original Hillyard High School building, built in 1907, had an initial enrollment of fourteen students and one teacher. By 1911, the student population had grown exponentially to 105 students, symbolizing the growth of the town of Hillyard and the success of James Hill's railroad station.

The two-story, nine room brick structure had become far too small to support anymore students and in June of 1911, the citizens of Hillyard passed a bond measure of $50,000 for the contruction of a new high school. Lacking little design characteristics, the new three-story brick structure, located on North Regal Street, graduated its first class of eight seniors in 1913.

As Hillyard continued to grow in population, so did the student body of Hillyard High School. By 1916, the senior class had expanded to twenty-five students and Hillyard decided to try and expand the school. Voters rejected a bond measure and as a result, Hillyard students, angered by the failure of their town to expand the school, walked out of classes in protest.

It was not until 1922 that Hillyard would be able to procure the funds necessary for the expansion of the school and construction started that same year. The new three-story annex would nearly double the classroom space of Hillyard High School and it also added a much needed gymnasium and an auditorium.

In 1932, to ease further congestion, John R. Rogers High School was built and 1932 was also the last year that Hillyard High School was used as a school. The forty-eight students who graduated that year were the last to do so, thus transferring Hillyard's high school students to the new Rogers High School.

Absentee lanlords purchased the building in 1959, allowing it to fall into, by the 1980s, a state of disrepair. Renamed the Martindale (after its new owners), the old Hillyard High School became known for its rampant crime rate and was, during the 1980s, representative of the decline of the Hillyard neighborhood's once prosperous and blossoming community. The building was recently repurchased and an extensive remodeling project began. The City of Spokane's Housing Authority spent $6.5 million on its renovation, a far cry from the initial price of $50,000 which financed the original building's contructon in 1912. The old Hillyard High School may be gone, but the current apartment complex, still teeming with activity, is still a reminder of the old glory days of early 1900s Hillyard [4].

National Historic Register http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/05000920.pdf; Spokesman-Review http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/19/new-apartments-cause-angst/

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The original Five Mile Prairie Schoolhouse was built in 1901. It was a small one-room building that housed fourteen students and one teacher. In 1912 the school, which had become too small for the expanding Five Mile population, was replaced by a new three-story brick structure. This second school lacked basic ammenities, such as indoor plumbing and a modern heating system, and was torn down after twenty-six years of use to make way for a more up-to-date building. The third (and final) Five Mile Schoolhouse, which is still in use today, was erected in 1939 and was one of the many Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in the region.

The new $30,000 Five Mile School/WPA project was funded by $19,788 in federal dollars and the remaining $10,000 was financed by the citizens of the Five Mile Prairie community. Upon its completion in November 1939, the new grade school boasted two classrooms, a large auditorium, indoor plumbing and a formal dining room. One of the classrooms held first through fourth grade students, while the other classroom held fifth through eighth graders. By 1941, seventh and eighth grades were moved to other schools in the nearby Mead School District and the Five Mile Schoolhouse would, from then on, hold only first thorugh sixth graders. By 1969, the school population was at forty-four students. From 14 kids in 1901, to 44 kids in 1969; these numbers are representative of how Five Mile Prairie was spared the expansive growth of its urban counterpart, Spokane.

The year of 1970 saw, after the failure of a bond levy, the last year of instruction at the Five Mile Prairie School (for at least thirty-five years). In 1972, "People for the Preservation of Five Mile prairie Elementary", leased the old school building from the school district and utilized it for community meetings and events. In 1976, the building was closed as a community center due to an increase in costs. Mead School District #354 was, by 1976, using the boarded up building as a storage facility. The Five Mile School house was used in this manner up until 2004 when a district levy was passed and extensive renovation began, its doors reopened for instruction in 2006 as an educational resource center for the Mead School District.

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In 1917, this building was the home of the Legal Defense Fund office of the Industrial Workers of the World--a union of unskilled workers whose vigorous tactics made them both feared and derided as the "Wobblies." Of the many Spokane offices of the IWW in the early 1900s, the only building that is still standing is right here.

The Wobblies first made a mark on Spokane in 1909, when a labor action they sponsored led to the "Free Speech Fight." As tempers flared between militant workers and area industrialists, the City of Spokane banned public speaking in 1909, hoping to stifle the various worker's movements. Within a few weeks of the new law, over 500 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were arrested as they protested the unpopular law until the Spokane Jail was overfilled with the protesters.

The word was sent out by IWW leader James Rowan that all available supporters should report to Spokane to, as the IWW newsletter read, "Come Fill the Jail in Spokane." A picture of a jailed member on a poster is captioned, "Jailed: We are in here for you; you are out there for us." In a symbolic gesture of solidarity and protest, hundreds of Wobblies arrived in Spokane in order to violate the ordinance for the sole purpose of getting arrested. The highly contested ordinance was overturned in March, 1910.

Over the next eight years, the Spokane IWW continued to expand its influence. In August of 1917, Rowan threatened a strike in all the state's industries, which was when the IWW discovered the breaking point of the local government. This prompted a brief military occupation of Spokane by the National Guard and a declaration of martial law by Governor Ernest Lister on August 17th. The main target of this ordinance was members of the Industrial Workers of the World and it was used as a means to prevent any further organization of mill workers and migrant harvest laborers who were striking for eight hour days and clean camp conditions. As a result of the IWW's refusal to comply, all three IWW halls in Spokane were raided, their documents seized and 94 members arrested.

When martial law was declared in 1917, the National Guard, under command of the US War Department, arrested anybody with a red card (IWW membership card) and arrested anybody engaged in "seditious activity", such as organizing workers. Although public speaking was banned, as a show of who the ordinance was geared toward, members of the patriotic organization, the Volunteers of America were still allowed to continue to speak freely.

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Felts Field is not only the oldest airport in the Spokane area but is also one of the oldest federally designated airstrips in the country.

Located near Rutter and Fancher and along the banks of the Spokane River, Felts Field was originally known as Ed Hoisington Field when one-thousand acres were first leased from the city by the Northwest Aircraft Company in 1919. Throughout the 1920s, other private firms also leased the field for commercial aviation. The Washington Air National Guard set up at the airstrip in 1924, which was the region's first Air National Guard unit.

Symbolic of the rising increase in the use of commercial aviation, United Airlines purchased the old Northwest Airlines builiding to be utilized as their new terminal. Decorated in the popular Art Deco style of the 1930s (this can be seen in both the basic design of the building, as well as the bas relief moldings which decorate the building), the terminal was used by United Airlines also housing the region's weather bureau. Hoisington Field was renamed Felts Field in 1927 after James Buell Felts, an Air National Guard pilot from Spokane died in a plane crash that May.

On August 15, 1929, pilots Lt. Nick Mamer and Art Walker took flight on a record-breaking journey across the country from Felts Field. Staying in the air for 120 straight hours, the two men flew fom Spokane to New York and back again, returning on August 20th after their grueling 7,200 mile trip. This was the first transcontinental refueling and was a world's record for nonstop mileage. In 1938, Lt. Mamer and nine others were killed in a commercial plane wreck and in 1939 a clock tower memorial was built in Lt. Mamer's honor. The clock tower is still in use today and can be found directly west of the Skyway Cafe, behind the main parking lot.

In the 1940s and with the onset of World War II, Felts Field was quickly becoming too small for the large influx of both military and commercial planes which seemed to be constantly flying on and off the runways. In order to more efficiently support the Spokane aviation industry, the Spokane International Airport was built just west of Spokane in Geiger Field. By 1949, all military and most commercial aviation activity was moved to the bigger and more suitable airport.

Although Felts Field lost most of its traffic in 1949, it never failed to continue running as an airport. To this day, Felts Field is still an active and popular airstrip for many of the region's pilots. Hobby pilots, the Experimental Aircraft Association, commercial charter pilots and Med Star are all operating at Felts Field and at just about any given time of day, airplanes can be viewed from any part of Spokane, either taking off or landing at the airstrip.

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