Last Friday, city employees and volunteers emptied Dillingham’s historic school building and closed it. Acting City Manager Kim Johnson says that problems within the building show evidence of structural movement. The 1936 building, which some community members call ‘the territorial school,’ sits adjacent to the City Hall on Main Street. It was at one time operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. More recently, the city and library stored material in it.
Johnson says that water is in the building's basement, and that a door within the building is now unable to be closed. Evidence of leaking water is visible on Main Street - a stream has been flowing for several days. On Monday, part of City Hall’s bottom floor was also flooded.
A 2012 architectural report by Jeffery S. Wilson Architect for the Dillingham School District found that the building had extensive structure issues at that time, including a cracked foundation, a failing north wall, a leaking roof and uncontrolled site drainage. At the time, the district housed four teachers in the building.
Johnson says the city is seeking a contractor to fix the present leak and an engineer to evaluate the building. She says she’ll bring her recommendation on whether to demolish the building before the City Council in August.
If it is demolished, Johnson says she wants to save the bell. The school’s bell was in good condition at the time of the 2012 report.
“Once we deal with the building itself, we’ll have that bell on-hand as a reminder that we did have a BIA territorial school here,” she said.
The city council meets on August 3 at 7:00 PM.
This article has been updated to correct that water is in the building's basement.
Get in touch with the author at christina@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
