| SUBJECT PROPERTY
The Riverside School originally was the school building for the Riverside District No. 54. After 1911, when the Riverside School District united with Canby, the Riverside School was operated and owned by Canby School District 86. The Riverside School was closed in 1919 and moved from N.W. 22nd Avenue and Holly (then known as Ferry Rd.) in the 1920s to the Wait Park block and faced N.W. Third Avenue. The building served as the primary grades' headquarters for 10 years before it was sold to the Riverside Social Club and used for club and community purposes. The building was moved to its present location on Territorial Road after it was sold to the Riverside Social Club in the late 1930s. The building was moved by Frank Dodge, a local builder.
Howard H. Eccles, from whom the 1956 Canby elementary school is named, was an early teacher at Riverside. In 1912, he earned $75 per month. Frank E. Dodge was born in 1876 and came to Canby in 1900 with his wife, Belle Hubbard. They first resided for ten years beside the Willamette River ferry landing (see SHPO #570), then moved to Canby for one year and then bought the home on Territorial Road. Frank E. and Belle Dodge are listed in the 1921-1922 Farmers' Directory and the 1936 Directory of Rural Residents as owning six acres at Canby. Frank Dodge was a builder of several of Canby's major downtown structures. He erected the Canby State Bank building (SHPO #621 remodeled), the Carlton & Rosenkrans building (see SHPO #622), the Masonic Building (see SHPO #619), the W.H. Bair Warehouse (SHPO #617 demolished), and was the contractor-builder of the Canby Methodist church. He served many years on the election board in the Riverside precinct, was a charter member of the Riverside Club, and helped move the Riverside School to its present site. Mr. Dodge was also a 50-year member of the Champoeg Masonic Lodge. At the time of his death in 1959, Mr. Dodge was survived by his wife, Belle; five daughters, Mrs. Ralph (Eunice) Hein, Salem; Mrs. John (Thelma) Ritter and Mrs. Hal (Ruth) Cattley, both of Canby; Mrs. Ed (Caroline) Loe, Yoder, Mrs. Curtis (Helen) Walker, Olympia; four sons, Clyde Dodge, Olympia; Mark Dodge, Oswego; Kenneth Dodge, Eugene; Richard Dodge, Tacoma; a sister, Mrs. Anna Ken Knight, Oregon City; 19 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
The Riverside School is an example of a Vernacular style one-room school house. Composed of a simple rectangular volume, it was built in 1875, according to local historian Myra Weston. Architectural evidence supports this date of construction. Late 19th-century schools and other public buildings were generally one-story, rectangular volumes, oriented with endwall entrances, moderately pitched gable roofs, and long double-hung sash windows. Paneled doors were often seen in late 19th century buildings. The Riverside School has had few alterations or additions; an ell was added and the building was moved twice. The Riverside School is significant as a relatively pristine 19th-century Vernacular school. The building was also significant as a center of the community, first as a school and later as a community club and social center The school is the oldest of three schools, dating from the Railroads and Industrial Growth period (1866-1883), listed on the Clackamas County Cultural Resource Inventory for the Canby/Barlow study area. The resource may be evaluated as an example of a late 19th-century Vernacular school. |
