Weatherwax Burns

At shortly after mid-night on January 6th, 2002, the Weatherwax Building on the Aberdeen High School campus caught fire. Caroline Hardy and her family were present and had this to say:

"We received a phone call from Bryan at 12:09 am letting us know the Weatherwax building was on fire. We quickly got dressed and went down to watch history going up in smoke -- we all have lots of memories there. It really was an awful thing to experience. At this time they are not sure what the cause was but it started on the first floor which is where the counseling center is now. We stood in utter disbelief as the windows blew out of the classrooms and the library. We pray no one was hurt. There were firefighters from all over the county. The PUD had to cut power wires so Aberdeen's newest Arial truck could get to the building. I'm sure you can read about it on the Daily World website on Monday at www.thedailyworld.com. Also it appears that there was a TV photographer there too. Lots of cameras, camcorders and cell phones were all in use. We went home and got our camera and camcorder too.

A sad morning in Aberdeen was experienced by all."

Caroline later sent pictures of the fire taken that night by herself and her son, Bryan Oldham. She had this further comment with her pictures:

"Latest update is that school is cancelled through at least January 9 or maybe longer until classrooms can be set up at local churches and the "old" Miller building. The Weatherwax building is gutted. News is saying that it could be weeks or maybe never to determine the cause. Lots of memories for all of us went up in smoke early this morning. We thank God that no one was hurt. Was devastating watching the library destroyed; all those wonderful books; such a loss. Things like awards, trophies, etc. all gone."

Bryan and Caroline's pictures can be seen below.
Click on each thumbnail to view each picture in detail.

Links to additional information on the fire:

Lest We Forget...

Below are all the pictures of the old building that I could dig up out of my own yearbooks. I thought there should have been as least one picture of the library but could not find it. I also included a picture of the old Aberdeen High School building that pre-dated the Weatherwax building.

Funds are being collected at the following locations for donations toward the re-construction.

ANCHOR BANK, P. O. Box 387, Aberdeen, WA. 98520 has been designated for ABERDEEN HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY donations. Note that designation on any checks sent.

STERLING SAVINGS, Market & Broadway, Aberdeen, WA. 98520 has been set up for what was called ABERDEEN HIGH SCHOOL FIRE FUND--announced with a "broader" scope for its use; textbooks, supplies, furniture, etc.

New AHS building

See an artist sketch of the new building

Construction Documents have been submitted to the City of Aberdeen for plan review, along with the building permit application.

Students will most likely be moving into the new building on or before fall of 2007.

The architect of record is Northwest Architectural Company and the contractor is Absher Construction.

The construction manager is Heery, Inc. and Harbor Architects is functioning as a local representative for the School District.

Construction has begun. Check out the AHS Underconstruction page for continuing pictures of the progress of the construction.