Built in 1908, the Spokane Parental School was constructed as the first correctional and educational facility specifically designed for wayward boys who lived in Spokane School District Number 81 and in Spokane County. A Spokesman-Review article dated March 6, 1910 explained the school's role as a facility that "steps in to the job of parenting when boys have made minor mistakes that might lead to lives of crime if left unchecked." The article further claimed that "the strictly parental school is a new idea and is established as yet by only a few of our [American] city systems. It is a rather significant fact that Spokane is one of only five cities having such a school. Others are located in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle." According to school records, an average of 50 to 60 boys a year attended the school. Serving the Spokane community for over 33 years, the Spokane Parental School helped direct and educate more than 1900 boys during its reign of service from 1909 to 1942. Designed by prominent architect Albert Held, the Spokane Parental School is an excellent example of the Colonial Revival tradition with early Dutch Colonial-style influence and is the only public schoolhouse built in Spokane that is designed in the Colonial Revival style.

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