Franklin Elementary

Franklin Elementary has a last tour prior to a big remodeling makeover upheaval that will put teachers and kids out of Jefferson for a year-plus until the new Franklin is open.

Section:Gallery

Tue., May 2, 2017

Brian Shute gives a walking tour of Franklin Elementary School, Friday, April 29, 2017. The school is closing at the end of the school year for extensive reconstruction and renovations. Shute, the school’s speech-language pathologist, has been giving tours to people, including former students, interested in the 107-year-old school’s colorful history.

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The second floor hallway of the original 107-year-old Franklin Elementary School building will be renovated as part of the school district’s $26.2-million modernization project. Given the unique architectural and historical significance of the main building, special care will be taken to maintain the school's character.

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Franklin Elementary School walking tour participants, many of whom attended the 107-year-old school, visit the small gym, which is slated for demolition at the end of the school year. The Franklin Elementary School modernization and addition is just one of many projects that Spokane voters approved by passing the 2015 school bond.

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Walking tour participants file past the school’s old boiler in the basement of the 107-year-old Franklin Elementary School, Friday, April 28, 2017.

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A bust of Benjamin Franklin was once mounted in the stairwell, but years of children touching his nose and sticking pencils up his nose forced the removal to a more appropriate high spot in the Franklin Elementary School lobby.

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