By Marianne Lincoln

One of my favorite questions for people in the Bethel School District is, ” Can you name the five original school districts that were combined to make Bethel?”

And yes, I even hit up the Superintendents for this one.

It is common for people to name Clover Creek. That is an incorrect answer. Clover Creek joined the Bethel School District in 1956. The Bethel School District was formed in January 1949.

The original five Districts were: Spanaway, Elk Plain, Rocky Ridge, Kapowsin & Roy.

The Rocky Ridge School was moved off its original site, but it is still in existence, near Cougar Mountain Middle School.

Here is a current photo of it at 25923 50th Ave E, Graham, WA 98338.

In creating this article, I discovered that neither Pierce County Assessor Treasurer, nor the Landmarks Commission has this building listed as an historic landmark. Wow, we missed the mark here. I am sure there are many other sites that will soon be “found” again as well. We need to get the history of the South Pierce County into the books!