Historic Register Tour - Cowley School Building

HISTORIC NAME	Cowley School Building
COMMON NAME	Cowley School
DATE BUILT	1917
ARCHITECT/BUILDER	Unknown
PROPERTY STYLE	Gothic Revival
ON THE SPOKANE REGISTER	Yes - added 12/10/01
NATIONAL REGISTER	No
IN A DISTRICT	Yes - District
DISTRICT	Peaceful Valley Historic District
NEIGHBORHOOD	Peaceful Valley

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Built in 1917, the Cowley School Building is a finely crafted vernacular example of a small schoolhouse with Collegiate Gothic-style elements reflected in its stepped parapet design at the roof, brick exterior wall cladding, and Tudor-Gothic entry arch with sculpted tracery embellishment. The school building is the only public school ever constructed in Peaceful Valley and is one of few historic public schools remaining in Spokane. The Cowley School Building was named for Reverend Henry T. Cowley, one of Spokane’s most accomplished leaders and one of the first pioneers to arrive in the city. Cowley came to Spokane in 1874, when settlement of the town was just beginning. Cowley’s business and civic contributions span a wide range of activities, from missionary work with the region’s Spokane Indian tribes, to Presbyterian church organization and leadership, to real estate development, and to the establishment of the Spokane Daily Chronicle, one of Spokane’s most successful newspapers.