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In the mid 1920s, Ketchikan was the largest city in Alaska with a population of more than 5,000 and it was clear that a second school was needed in addition to Main School which housed Grades 1-12 on a hill overlooking downtown Ketchikan.
There were several smaller schools in the area in places like Saxman and Wacker City - present day Ward Cove. There was even a state school at Charcoal Point near the current site of the Alaska Marine Highway Terminal. But since the Ketchikan City limits ended where Washington Street is now, Charcoal Point was for the non-city residents in the growing West End.
In 1926, the City of Ketchikan purchased a two acre parcel from Louis Nadeau's White Cliff patented gold claim. Warrick Construction began work on the building in the summer of 1927 and the first classes were held on October 17, 1927. As construction was still ongoing, only students in Grades 1-4 were in the building the first year. It was decided that all children in those grades who lived west of Quinn Street would go to the new school while other elementary students continued to attend Main School. When the city limits eventually pushed farther westward, Jefferson Street became the western edge of the boundary for White Cliff students.
Miss Melvina MacFarlane was both the school principal and the first grade teacher in 1927-1928. Initially, there were approximately 80 students at the school,but that number had increased to nearly 200 by the middle of the next decade. The school was expanded in the late 1930s (the wood-frame addition to the east) and again in the early 1950s (the three story classroom/multipurpose room to the west). The covered playground area was built in the 1970s. In the 1990s, more than 300 students attended White Cliff each year.
White Cliff was built in the Plain Early Style of public buildings that was popular on the West Coast from the 1890s through the early 1920s. The style was known by it massed groups of multi-light windows, simple unadorned lines and a general lack of ornament, except around entrances. During one of the later remodels the multi-light windows replaced with modern glazing and glass block was introduced into the front facade.
The city of Ketchikan owned White Cliff school until 1949 when the Independent School District was formed to administer local schools inside and outside the city limits. When White Cliff was turned over to the new school district there was a reverter clause which states that the building is to be turned back to the city when it is no longer being used for "educational purposes."
In 1964, the formation of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough led to school powers being taken over by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District.
As White Cliff approached its 50th anniversary in 1977, it was clear that the building was in need of major renovation. Several studies were commissioned but little was done until after the Point Higgins School was built and Ketchikan High School underwent an almost complete remodel. In 1997, voters approved $9 million in bonds to either replace or renovate White Cliff. In 1999, a study determined that it would cost $15 million to bring White Cliff up to modern educational standards. The same study estimated it would cost around $9 million to build a new elementary school. That same year, the borough assembly decided to proceed with a new elementary school on borough owned land in Bear Valley, but the project stalled for a variety of reasons. The School District continued to operate White Cliff, but the borough and the district delayed significant maintenance because the new school was being planned.
Eventually a site on South Tongass Highway was chosen and purchased and site development began in 2003. It was estimated that the price of the new school had risen to $12 million.
Finally, in the spring of 2004 it was determined that White Cliff could not be occupied in the fall of 2004. Voters approved a second bond issue for the replacement school bringing the total available dollars to $13 million The replacement school, Fawn Mountain Elementary located 4 miles south of Ketchikan, is scheduled to be opened until the Spring of 2006.
When the school district vacated White Cliff in the summer of 2004, it was assumed that the property would revert to the City of Ketchikan. But City officials declined to take control of the property unless the borough made improvements to the building or tore it down. In November of 2004, the Borough Assembly asked Historic Ketchikan to determine if there is a further public use for the building and whether or not there are community groups interested in redeveloping the property.