The 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse is a single storey wood frame building located on the northwest corner of the 150 Mile House Elementary School property overlooking Highway 97 in 150 Mile House, BC.
Prominently located beside a section of the former Cariboo Wagon Road (now Highway 97) that opened the region to European settlement, the 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse is now valued as a display centre housing historic educational resources, and as a landmark in the region.
Local governments, tourism groups, historical societies, educators, authors, and others often use its iconic image as a symbol to represent the vibrant history of the area.
Heritage Value
The 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse is valued as the oldest functional school building in School District #27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin). It was constructed in the fall and winter of 1895-1896 beside the original Cariboo Waggon Road when 150 Mile House was the thriving hub of commerce, transportation, and governance for the large Cariboo-Chilcotin region of B.C. The building is one of only seven historic buildings remaining in the once important 150 Mile House townsite.
The 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse is valued for its proximity to other historic buildings which were all part of the original town. In its early years, students attending the 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse stabled their horses in the nearby barn in winter. The doctor's house still stands on the other side of the road, and the courthouse is close by.
The Schoolhouse is valued for serving the community well for more than 60 years as a school, meeting place, and social center. It was originally the proud centerpiece of the first Williams Lake School District, valued for providing access to education for children from the 150 Mile community and surrounding farms and ranches. This important function has been recognized by School District #27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin), which designated it as an official heritage building in 1997.
The architecture of the 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse is valued as a typical example of a late Victorian one-room schoolhouse, complete with its original porch, entranceway, cloakroom foyer, and a large, high-ceiling teaching area. One of only a very few one-room schoolhouses remaining in the province, its utilitarian form, simple construction, and functional nature are representative of B.C.'s early one-room schoolhouses. Following the usual practice, the 150 Mile Little Red Schoolhouse was built using local lumber and building materials, local builders, and local funding.
Character Defining Elements
- Exterior features such as the original horizontal clapboard siding, original large windows, original porch, cedar-shake gable roof, spire at the peak of the roof, and the red and beige colour scheme
- Single-room architectural form and footprint/floorplan
- Interior features including original tongue-and-groove woodwork on the walls, high ceiling, entrance-way, cloakroom foyer, and original wood heater, and two original double desks
- Oiled fir floor complete with ink stains
- Historic resources displayed in the building, including desks, books, maps, antique furniture, display case, toys, lamps, pictures, teaching aids, etc., representative of the late Victorian period
- Orientation to other historic buildings
Additional information on 150 Mile House Red Schoolhouse Heritage Site