When the building was purchased by the City of Spokane's Housing Authority and renovated, it was renamed Agnes Kehoe Place in honor of Agnes Kehoe, state representative for Spokane from 1939-47. Born in Iowa about 1875, Agnes lived the last 57 years of her life in Spokane, serving the community in a great many capacities, garnering, among others, the
Marian Award for “significant contributions to the community” from Holy Names College in 1951. Agnes passed away in Spokane on November 17, 1959.
After the school was closed in 1932, it was turned into apartments and allowed to deteriorate until for many years, after which time it was purchased by the City of Spokane's Housing Authority about 2011 and renovated at a cost of $6.5 million. Today it is a 51 unit complex of low income apartments. Ten are set aside for formerly homeless veterans, while another 10 are set aside for disabled persons.
Hillyard High School
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 construction 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.
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...
Absentee landlords purchased the building in 1959, allowing it to fall into, by the 1980s, a state of disrepair... 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 construction 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.
From Spokane Historical