The Banks Historical Society launched a campaign they have dubbed the “Save the Historic Banks Union High School,” joining an informal effort by local and county residents who hope to stop the planned demolition of the former Banks Union High School.
The building, finished in 1920—and now the only remaining historic brick building in the city, according to the society—is currently facing demolition
The building most recently served as an administrative office for district staff.
The society said it is advocating for private investors or some form of public-private partnership to raise funds to preserve the building.
As it stands, the building is set to be demolished as part of a major update to the district’s campus spurred by a 2024 $49.3 million school bond passed by voters. A 20 year concept plan for the campus, which includes the Banks High School, Banks Middle School, district offices and several other structures, fields, and parking lots was adopted unanimously by the Banks School Board in late January.
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“Our historic high school is more than a building – it’s a symbol of our town’s identity and resilience,” said Nina Shurts, who leads the Banks Historical Society’s Historic High School Committee. “With two new housing developments on the way, we will need more community and commercial spaces that serve our growing population of all ages. Adaptive reuse offers a practical, sustainable way to meet these needs while honoring our heritage and preserving the beauty and meaning of a space that belongs to all of us. This is our chance to create something unifying, lasting and deeply rooted in who we are as a community.”
The group is advocating for the building, of unreinforced brick construction and in ill repair according to district contractors, to be renovated and used for an undetermined administrative, municipal or community space.
“This building holds historic significance not only for Banks but for the wider community as well,” said Laurelen Jabbour, president of the Banks Historical Society. “Its construction was completed in 1920, the same year Banks incorporated as a city. It was the first Union High School in Washington County and brought together seven small school districts to provide a high school education for students from nearby towns, farms and logging camps.”
Since then, the building has been used as a junior high and then administrative offices.
A petition circulated by a community group, who have now joined with the historical society, garnered 250 signatures.
“The cost to upgrade the structure to meet the needs and standards for educational purposes was deemed by the school board to be cost-prohibitive”, the group said.
“A cost-neutral option that included renovation and incorporation of the historic school into the new campus was ultimately rejected without explanation,” the society’s press release read.
Banks School Board Director Corissa Mazurkiewicz said she loved architecture and would personally prefer to see the building preserved during a Jan. 28 school board meeting, but that it was her role as an elected official to vote in the community’s best interest.
While noting what she described as strong support for efforts to preserve the building, she said she had heard more people who wanted to select concept 1 for the district’s 20-year master plan concept, which would see the building demolished.
“The overwhelming majority that I have heard” supported concept 1, she said.
School board member Leslee Sipp said she agreed with Mazurkiewicz.
She added that when the board set out to propose a bond that would tackle modernizing the district’s campaign, it had to be made palatable to voters.
“We would have loved to have put the whole shebang, everything that we needed in this, but we knew we would probably not pass,” Sipp said.
Sipp said that waiting for grants wasn’t a good option, noting that no grants “had appeared yet.”
“This vote, this discussion has never been about whether we like or don’t like old buildings,” board member Will Moore said, noting his family’s long heritage in the Banks area, attendance at the building as students, and financial contributions to the district.
“If there was an alternative that would have made it possible to save that building, and not end up spending more money that we could use on the other parts of the school that we need so desperately and also other impacts it has on the campus, on the 20 year plan that we have discussed much, it’s just not possible,” he said.
“From my standpoint I would be irresponsible as a board member for this district to support anything other than option 1,” he said.
Three of the board members that voted to adopt the plan that would end up with the demolishment of the district office building won reelection to the board during the May 20 election.
The Banks Historical Society noted the demolishment of the Wilkes House, and hopes to avoid the same fate.
“This time, with a publicly owned building, the Banks Historical Society is hoping for a better outcome. The group is actively exploring funding options and is in the process of applying for the building’s designation on the National Register of Historic Places, which would open the door to preservation grants,” the group said.
For more information about the group and their preservation efforts, visit bankshistory.org.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
