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The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., November 12, 1908, page 1

NEW HIGH SCHOOL ABOUT COMPLETED
Putting On Finishing Touches
Gives Hood River a Model Educational Institution the Combines the Beautiful and Utilitarian.

     Hood River's fine new high school building is fast nearing completion. This week will see the finishing touches to the new temple of education both inside and out as far as it will be done for the present and as soon as the desks, furniture and other things that are necessary, can be installed the building will be ready for use. The grounds around it are being cleared up and the structure presents a handsome and substantial appearance.
     Broad steps lead to the main entrance on the north side of the building and also to the east and west entrances. The basement, which is a feature of the new school is well lighted and roomy and can be entered by doors which open under the east and west stairways and can be entered also by a door which leads into the furnace room. There are several rooms in the basement which as yet have not been finished off and which will later be used for purposes which the school faculty may designate.
     In the west end of the basement is the boys laboratory with modern and sanitary fittings and a similar apartment in the east end for the girls. In the middle of the south side is the furnace room containing the triple furnace heating plant and also the ventilating apparatus which is so arranged as to furnish pure air all over the building. This is done by a big rotary fan encased in an air tight case which draws the cold air from a large duct on the roof of the building and forces it over the heating plates of the furnace and on up to the halls and various rooms. Ventilators placed in the walls of the rooms regulate the temperature and insure proper ventilations.
     Broad stairways, well lighted, lead from the basement to the main floor. The interior is finished in Oregon fir and there is not a sharp coroner in the building. Directly opposite the main entrance is the superintendent's office. On this floor there are seven classrooms three of which are finished. The doors are what are known as the double A, swinging bout in and out noiselessly and there is not a lock on any of them except that to the superintendent's office and the doors that open out of the building. Separate coat stalls for boys and girls are furnished for all rooms and are situated in the hall, entrance into them being by doors leading from the classrooms.
     On the upper floor there are four class rooms and the large assembly room and auditorium which occupies the entire north front of the building. From this a magnificent view of the Columbia and Mount Adams is obtainable. A room on this floor has also been set apart for the laboratory.
     A two inch pipe for fire protection runs throughout the building and 100 feet of hose will be supplied for this purpose on each floor. A fire escape of the latest approved type extends from the top floor in the rear to the ground.
     One of these rooms which are unfinished will be selected as a library and when the fittings are properly installed the new high school will furnish Hood River with an educational institution that will rank with the best in the state.
     The exterior of the building is finished off in red brick with gray trimmings. The steps are painted in this color and frieze which extends round the top of the structure has on it the names of classical characters. On the east wing on those of Aristotle and Virgil, on the front Ursinus, Gracchus, and Homer, and on the west wing, Agrippa and Napier. The architecture of this structure which was planned by P.M. Hall-Lewis is plain and impressive, the front view particularly giving the impression of a substantial utilitarian structure adapted to the uses for which it was erected without any gingerbread or spectacular ornamentations.
     The building was built by Stranahan & Slavin, well known contractors, and as far as possible the work was done by Hood River labor and industries.

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©  Jeffrey L. Elmer