Opened in September 1922
It is a handsome shingled symmetrical building with a bell tower, two classrooms with soaring ceilings, a dozen tall windows, a coat room, a library, running water, a furnace in the basement and a cottage for the teacher right next door. It is quite a change from the previous two buildings used as schools in Holly.
The schoolhouse stands on land donated by Albert Pfundt and built by Central Kitsap School District to a plan used for two other rural schoolhouses – one in Seabeck and the other in Crosby.
Children from each of the five founding families – Wyatt, Pfundt, Stever, Aaro, and Hole – attend the new school in its inaugural year. The 1922 class picture shows 17 students with their teacher Mrs. Whaley. From the 1920 census, we can calculate the youngest children are 6 years old and the oldest are at least 13 years old.
While it’s reported the school offered education to 8th grade in the early years, Holly matriarch Hattie Madson notes Mrs. Whaley and her successor Ms. Gantke taught high school subjects until 1927 when older students could be transported to high school in Silverdale.
In 1946, in a state-wide effort to consolidate school districts, many rural schools are closed – Holly’s among them.