Early Hermiston Schools
Sandstone School (Photo courtesy of Steve Mills)
Hermiston’s first school was opened in the fall of 1906. School was held in a single room on the west side of the railroad tracks. There were six students.
The first teacher was May E. Skinner, daughter of William Skinner. By September 1907, school was moved to the upper floor of the Skinner Building at the corner of Second and Main. A second teacher was hired.
The first high school graduating class was in 1909. The two graduates were Catherine Skinner and Mona Irvin.
Sandstone School was the first building specifically constructed for education, built in 1908-1909 and located on Ridgeway Avenue. By 1912 it had been enlarged and served as grade school and high school. Eventually two buildings served as grade school and high school until 1936.
By 1936, Hermiston’s graduating class had reached 32.
Sandstone School was later used as an administration building before being demolished to make way for Sunset Elementary School.
Another school was built for Butter Creek students. The Butter Creek School was closed when Westland School was completed. Columbia School served farm families northeast of Hermiston.
Source: A Brief Hermiston History (Hermiston Public Library)
….
The following is from a plaque in front of an arch facade that once was the Union High School (later Hermiston Junior High/Armand Larive Junior High) on Ridgeway Avenue. It’s next to the site of the long demolished Sandstone School.
The Arch as you see it today was once the entrance to the former Union High School in the 1920s.
A 1922 description of Hermiston Education Services reads, “Educational facilities here are the very best. An excellent grade school is supported. A Union High School was just formed by uniting the school districts of Hermiston. There are 115 pupils registered in the high school and six teachers are employed.”
Armand O. Larive began as Superintendent of Hermiston Public Schools in 1948. Schools were experiencing a population boom from the construction of Umatilla Army Depot in the 1940s and McNary Dam in the late 1940s and early 1950s. “At present the teachers merely act as herders to the overcrowded classes,” the Hermiston Herald said.
Superintendent Larive was successful in constructing new schools with grants from the Federal Works Agency. The original school was built on this site in 1936, home to Hermiston High School, initially named Union High School. The building was renamed Hermiston Junior High and later Armand Larive Junior High after a new Hermiston High School was built in the 1950s on First Avenue.
In 2011, the old Armand Larive School was demolished and relocated to Southeast Ninth Street. During demolition, the Union High School engraving was revealed when the middle school sign was removed. The discovery generated a great deal of community interest preserving the arch as you see it now.
