Nearby History: Russell’s long legacy

With the recent Moscow School Board decision to close Russell Elementary, the Latah County Historical Society has received several inquiries about the school’s history and status as a historic building. With the school on so many people’s minds, I thought it helpful to provide a brief history of the school and the buildings that have stood on the Russell Block at Adams and Jefferson, between First and A streets.

One of Moscow’s early residents, John Russell, donated the Russell Block land to the city in 1883, with the stipulation that a school should reside there. The small school opened in 1884, on what is currently the playground, offering Moscow’s first public school located in town. The school was a wooden two-story structure with one classroom on each floor. Students soon outgrew the original arrangement, and an addition was added to the building in 1889, with the school officially known as Russell School. In photos, the back of the original building is visible with the addition creating a “T” shape. Just prior to this, the city established the Moscow Public School District in April 1888. Within a few years, the school faced crowding once again, and the district decided it was necessary to construct another building on the Russell Block.

The Washington Irving School opened on the northeast corner of the block in 1901. Yet only a few short years later, overcrowding plagued both schools and a wooden shed on the property was moved and converted into an additional classroom adjacent to the Russell School, known as the Annex. These fixes seemed to work for a time, but on Jan. 8, 1912, fire ravaged the Russell School. According to witness accounts, an Irving School teacher noticed the flames that afternoon and raised the alarm. The Moscow Fire Department arrived but found that the water plugs were frozen, and crews were unable to extinguish the blaze. The Irving school was spared but students were still left without a school. Students were distributed between half days at the Irving school and the Swedish Lutheran Church basement. The Irving school remained the only school building on the Russell Block for another 16 years.

Students were permanently relocated to the new high school at the corner of 3rd and Adams streets, now known as the 1912 Center. As Moscow continued to grow throughout the 20th century, school building needs increased.

By 1926, officials condemned the Irving School, citing unsafe conditions, while the school district outlined plans to remove the school in favor of facilities with more efficient heating and larger gym. In 1928, Irving School was razed, and construction began for a new Russell School. That completed building is the one that still stands at the corner of Adams and A streets. That structure proved sufficient until 1946 when an addition was proposed to alleviate crowding, on the northwest side of the building. Additional remodeling in 1973 updated plumbing, electrical, windows, and fixtures, with a new roof installed. More changes came in 1991 in the form of a trailer annex. This trailer allowed the library to move out of the building and free up badly needed classroom space, but budget examination proved that using the trailer as a classroom, rather than the library, made more financial sense.

Russell School and its future has remained a topic of conversation since 2001, when the Moscow School District’s facilities committee voted to take the school out of the district’s elementary inventory. Public outcry and elementary student reconfiguration kept the school open in 2002 despite failed levies and aging facilities.

The 2024 Moscow School District decision to close the school is reminiscent of the conversations happening in 2001 and 2002. Many have inquired with LCHS about the historic status of the building. In 1980, the Fort Russell Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Within the district, the school is recognized in the inventory of contributing historic buildings for its brick façade, gothic arched entrances, and important place in Moscow’s history. Inclusion on the National Register is largely honorary, meant to recognize significant historic structures, but not provide legal protections against alterations or removal.

There is no question that Russell School has been a valuable part of Moscow’s history and education community for 96 years. I hope this brief history of the schools on the Russell Block and the current school’s historic building status answer some of the questions our community has as Moscow discusses the building’s future and the future of education on the Palouse.

Noble is the executive director of the Latah County Historical Society.