When Camano Island’s classic one-room schoolhouse was built in 1906, “Camano City” was a quickly growing logging and mill town. During this bustling era, the little village built a long wharf and had daily boat service to Whidbey Island, Everett, and Seattle. Camano City had several stores, two first-class hotels, a local newspaper, and by 1908 even an independent phone company connecting them to Stanwood.
The schoolhouse served local families until 1936 when students began attending Stanwood schools. It was purchased by the Camano City Fire District in 1945, and the island’s first fire hall was built next door in 1946. The Fire District’s Women’s Auxiliary, the “Sparklers,” ran the schoolhouse as a community hall, organizing meetings, hosting fundraisers, and sometimes providing volunteer firefighter services themselves.
In 2012, the Camano Schoolhouse Foundation purchased and began restoring the schoolhouse. Inside, vintage desks face the original chalkboards, creating an inspiring space and a sense of time travel. The foundation has recently returned the bell to the schoolhouse rooftop after a 60-plus-year absence and begun an archiving and digitizing project to preserve historical documents. Programming events and educational opportunities highlight Camano’s history and provide enrichment.
The Foundation purchased the fire hall in 2018 and is restoring one of four bays as a Fire District Museum. They recently acquired a 1935 Ford fire engine. Interactive events such as the annual Stanwood-Camano Historic Sites Tour highlight Camano’s storied history. /Video tours and many other resources are available online.
This listing is part of our Cultural and Heritage Guide.
Look for the guide at Visitor Centers throughout Whidbey and Camano Islands.
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