John R. Rogers High School is a four-year public secondary school in Bemiss, Spokane, Washington, part of Spokane Public Schools (District No. 81). Opened in 1932 in northeast Spokane, the school is named after John Rankin Rogers, the third governor of the State of Washington.
The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 7, 2011. In September 2009, extensive renovation was completed on the school, adding another to the three-story Art Deco structure.
Two movies have been filmed on location at the school: Vision Quest in 1984, and the thriller Hangman's Curse in 2002. Both movies included hundreds of current and former members of the student body of Rogers High School as extras, as well as former members of the Pirates championship wrestling team, including award-winning coach and social studies teacher, Ken Pelo.
Location
John R. Rogers is located in the Bemiss neighborhood, northeast of Downtown Spokane and about east of Northtown Mall and Division Street, the north-south corridor, which separates the city into east and west. While the school is about southwest of the Hillyard Historic District, it is often associated with the area, due to its close proximity to the former town and the site of the former Hillyard High School.
History
Early planning and financing
John R. Rogers High School was established in 1932, as the successor to the nearby Hillyard High School. Built in 1907, Hillyard High served a smaller community surrounding James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway train yards. In the late 1920s, Hillyard became overcrowded, making it abundantly clear to the city and the district that there was an urgent need to build a larger, more modern school to accommodate students on the north side of the city.
While the building itself cost $400,000, financed through a hefty bond measure, the combined cost with ground and equipment brought the price tag to $500,000. While the need for a new school was readily apparent throughout Spokane, the approval of a large bond measure, following the recent 1929 stock market crash was considered a shot in the dark. The city overwhelmingly passed the measure. On April 10, 1930, the school board awarded the contract for overseeing the planning and design of the new school to the local architectural firm of Wells & Dow. The building of the structure was completed by J. J. Lohrenz.
Rogers was somewhat unusual, serving as both a replacement of an existing high school, as well as a new school. At the time, Rogers was the only school located on the north side of the city. With the more westward location of the new school, Rogers was able to accommodate the city by serving an expanded geographic area and student population. While the school was initially able to house 800 students, expansion possibilities would accommodate 1,000. The auditorium theater was two stories high, with tiered seating for 635 students on the main level and another 250 on the upper balcony.
Construction and labor
The contract for general construction of the new high school was awarded to J.J. Lohrenz. Following the fall of the stock market, economic depression had set in, along with high unemployment throughout the country. Among the stipulations of awarding the construction contract to Lohrenz was the agreement to ensure that all construction materials and labor would be sourced locally. While new construction was generally at a minimum, the project provided employment for hundreds of Spokane residents. Local contractors included Washington Brick and Lime to supply all the brick and tile; along with Jensen-Byrd (hardware); O.N. Wolff (cut stone), and John Malnati (plastering).
Innovation and design
The design of the school included several innovative features, many of which were new to not only Spokane, but the Pacific Northwest. The new school had the first building-wide public address system in Spokane; the first 8-circuit electric signal clock, which rang class bells automatically; the first built-in-the-wall student lockers in Spokane; modern acoustical ceilings; and a new ventilation system, which reduced fuel bills and kept the building temperature at 70 degrees.