hool, the oldest active school in the Yelm Community Schools district, is going all out for its 110-year celebration from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3.
The evening’s events include a tour of the school and student classroom projects centered around what life was like 110 years ago, a dance in the gym, an early 1900s-themed dress-up, and a history slideshow in the theater.
Principal Starla Watson said the school, which opened in 1914, has been working on gathering plans for the celebration since the end of the 2023-24 school year, when staff began meeting with community members who attended Lackamas to collect stories and details about the school’s past.
Through accumulating anecdotes about Lackamas Elementary School’s history, Watson discovered some fascinating tales of student life.
“When it was time to go outside, students used to play ball with the sheep or put pine cones in a bucket and play catch with them,” she said. “Those were their afternoon activities if they weren’t already just playing on the teeter totter or the bar that was put between two trees.”
Many years ago, students would also gather wood from under the schoolhouse to use in the wood furnace every day to make sure the building was warm. Every day, school began with a teacher standing outside and ringing a handbell. The gymnasium was once used as a dance hall during the evenings and weekends.
In 1939, 16 students, ranging from first to fifth grade, attended in one room. Mothers of students took turns coming into school and cooking lunch for kids out of what is now the office.
The school closed in 1946 because the roof fell in, and while it was closed, the property was used for hay storage, Watson said. It was purchased in 1986 and turned into a wedding party venue, and Yelm Community Schools took over the property in 2004 and reopened it in 2005.
To celebrate the 110-year anniversary, students are working on a variety of projects ranging from self-portraits of what they would look like at 110 years old, what food cost in 1914 and what newspaper articles and advertisements looked like back then.
“Students have really engaged in some research of what it was like 110 years ago versus what it’s like now, and [visitors] will be able to preview some of those projects in the evening during the event,” Watson said.
Additionally, Lackamas Elementary School staff, 16240 Bald Hill Road SE, worked with a local artist to make a vintage version of the school’s lightning mascot and ordered T-shirts and sweatshirts to commemorate the event.
“We’re acknowledging that we’ve been believing in students for 110 years,” Watson said.
