Washington Grade School in Vernonia, Oregon, designed in the Colonial Revival style featuring Georgian classical elements, was constructed in 1930 in close proximity to the Nehalem River and Rock Creek. After suffering irreparable damages in a 2007 flood, the City of Vernonia, Vernonia School District, and local residents decided to deconstruct the original building, and build a new K-12 school complex outside of the floodplain with help from FEMA.

At the request of FEMA and the Vernonia School District, PMA assisted in writing the project’s Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement mitigating the deconstruction of Washington Grade School. PMA documented the school according to NPS Historic American Building Survey (HABS) recordation standards. Additionally, PMA created historical narratives, graphics and design for an educational panel, and design options for an architectural fragment display. PMA’s design options included reinstallation of some fragments in the new school library, creating an exterior display pavilion in a park, and an interior interpretive display wall. The library display was completed in 2011 and the park monument is scheduled to be completed in 2014.