​ The first building to house this school was built by William “Billy” Howell and Elmer J. Pearl, plus several other neighbors and children in school.  To make things incredibly hard, there was no direct road from upper Courtney Creek to the school and the children had to go across the country to get to the school.

 

In 1907 both men took it upon themselves to build a schoolhouse and to open a school in their own neighborhood.  By agreement between the two, Mr. Howell cut logs into lumber and delivered them to the Pearl sawmill by team and wagon.  Mr. Pearl sawed the logs into lumber for the schoolhouse and delivered the lumber to the chosen building site. The two of them built a one room building considered suitable for a schoolhouse in those days.  The building was built on land owned by Mr. Howell’s brother Wilber Howell, who lived in Portland.  They legally formed a new school district, and The Courtney Creek School District #54 was born, and the school opened that Fall. A few years later, Billy Howell came into possession of the land where the schoolhouse was built and wished to build a house for himself in the same location.  He donated the land to the school district for a new school site and he and Mr. Pearl moved the schoolhouse to the new site by horse.  The school continued at the current site until mid-winter of 1926-27.​​