Historic Crow Valley School now belongs to the Historical Society
By Margot Shaw
The Orcas Island Historical Society (OIHM) is pleased to announce that the Crow Valley School Museum is now officially a part of OIHM. Thanks to the incredible generosity of owners Richard Schneider and Bud McBride, the School was deeded over to OIHM last month. The Museum has provided docents for the School in an informal arrangement the last several years, opening CVS for the enjoyment of visitors in the summer.
In 1888,when Washington was still a territory, the Pleasant Valley School (later called Crow Valley School) was built on one acre of land, donated by settler Peter Frechette. In the heyday of Orcas’ fruit orchard industry, the one-room school had as many as 47 students enrolled, 27 average in attendance. CVS closed in 1918, after which the consolidated Eastsound school served the whole island. The building continued to be used for community events, housing a women’s club, the “Willing Workers” (later called the Crow Valley Club). The building was named to the National Register of Historic Places in August, 1987.
When Richard and Bud purchased the property, they proceeded to restore the building with painstaking care, spending hundreds of hours researching the history of not only Crow Valley School, but all the San Juan County District schools. Richard had a special motivation to uncover the school’s past, as both his mother and uncle were students there.
In the more recent past, CVS has had visits from people all over the world; Phyllis Carney recreated school time for modern day Orcas school children; recently, Mathew Chasanov’s first grade class spent a school day, writing with slate pencils, listening to Antoinette Botsford’s tales of her childhood, and playing Duck, Duck, Goose on the playground. Starting June 29th, you, too, can be part of CVS history by visiting the museum, open Wednesdays and Saturdays, 12 to 4 p.m.
