By Luisa Loi
La Conner Community News
With the elbow grease of a group of volunteers and history enthusiasts, the Pleasant Ridge schoolhouse is undergoing extensive surgery to look 135 years younger.
John and Toni Christianson, who have a track record of restoring local historic buildings, are leading this multiyear endeavor along with the Friends of the Pleasant Ridge Schoolhouse, the nonprofit they started to revive the restoration effort.
The wooden building is located on Valentine Road, just across the street from the Christiansons’ home.
Photos by Nancy K. Crowell/La Conner Community News
The Pleasant Ridge Cemetery District purchased the school in 2017 with the intention of restoring it, but the project was abandoned after an engineering feasibility study recommended its demolition.
In 2025, the Christiansons bought the property, donated the schoolhouse to the Friends, and are now leasing the land at the annual rate of $1 for 100 years. They do not sit on the board of directors and will not profit from this project, said John Christianson, who described himself as a volunteer.
“It’s been something I’ve kind of dreamed of for as long as we’ve owned the house,” he said. “Now I’ll look at a building that’s going to be restored instead of falling down.”
The schoolhouse, which also hosted pageants, was built in 1891 and closed in the 1930s, when local students consolidated at the La Conner School District. According to Mickey Bambrick, who sits on the Friends’ board of directors, it is the oldest schoolhouse in the county.
In the 1970s, community members and former students formed the Pleasant Ridge School Association to raise funds to save the building from decay, replacing the roof and repairing the foundations — work that Christianson credits for the schoolhouse’s survival.
The vision is to restore the building to the way it looked in 1891, surround it with a garden available for public use, and rent it out for weddings, funeral services and other events.
“This will be a community asset,” Bambrick said.
The schoolhouse consists of two classrooms, an attic and a belltower, and has sustained significant water damage over the years, requiring the volunteers to remove the floorboards, Bambrick said while carefully walking over the makeshift path of wooden planks laid over the floor beams, under which she had spent several days removing animal bones, rocks and wood debris.
Whereas she remembered the long blackboard on the wall to be intact, she noticed a piece had just fallen off, its fading chalk writings dating back to the school’s final days.
The school bell has been missing for decades, perhaps since the 1950s, as it is believed to have been sold. If it doesn’t turn up, Christianson said another local bell that dates back to 1892 is available to use.
The cedar shingle roof, which bears a large hole left by a tree that fell a year ago, also needs to be replaced before winter, a project estimated to cost $50,000. While the foundations need to be brought up to 21st century standards, the siding is in good shape and only requires minimal work.
Jim Hansen was among the volunteers lending a hand on Friday. While he is not a carpenter, he was happy to put his skills to the test after learning about this community effort.
Bambrick’s husband, Kory Slaatthaug, said more hands and donations are needed.
“It takes a lot of work to preserve the old for history,” he said. “But history is important.”
While he does not know how long it will take to complete the project, Christianson said he can at least say it is going to happen. “We think it will be restored and last another hundred years. And then somebody else has to take over,” he laughed.
To learn more and make a donation, visit pleasantridgeschoolhouse.org. All donations are tax-deductible.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
