Learn about the past by experiencing a moment of life from over a century ago!

Built in 1895, the Jones School (No. 146) was originally located near Dusty, Washington, where it served area students in grades 1 through 8 until 1942. Following its consolidation into the Colfax and LaCrosse districts, it served as the home of the Dusty BB (Busy Bee) Club from 1945 to 1998. In 2010, the building was moved to its present site by the combined efforts of the Palouse Empire Fair Board and staff, the Whitman County commissioners, members of the Palouse Empire Fair Foundation, and the Whitman County Historical Society.

     Now located on the Palouse Empire Fairgrounds, four miles outside of Colfax, Washington, the Jones Schoolhouse has been restored and rejuvenated as a place for the community to meet and for visitors to experience an authentic one-room school. Open to the public every year during the Palouse Empire Fair (held Thursday through Sunday each year following Labor Day), it offers 20-minute mini-lessons to fairgoers on such topics as “Mental” Arithmetic, Penmanship, Poetry, Science, and Washington, U.S., and World Geography. In keeping with educational practices in 1895, strict discipline in the classroom is maintained at all times!

     In addition, field trips for students in grades 1 through 6 can be scheduled in September, October, April, May, and the first part of June. The Jones Schoolhouse is not a dry, dusty museum! Instead, students “step back in time” to experience what a day was like in an authentic one-room school over a century ago. Classes are taught by schoolmarms and/or masters dressed in the style of the period. Lessons will be taught as they would have been taught in 1895—using slates, copybooks, lecture, and/or recitation.

     If you are interested in providing this one-of-a-kind experience for your students, please contact Kathy Meyer (509-334-9089, klemeyer@gmail.com to schedule your field trip.