111-year-old Pierce County landmark demolished after permit ‘issued in error’
Crews starting tearing down a 111-year-old school house this week after Pierce County staff mistakenly issued a demolition permit for the historic building, a county spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
Pierce County’s Planning & Public Works department issued a permit in March to demolish the old Alderton School and adjacent gym at 9512 state Route 162, according to records on the county’s website. This was after the buildings’ owner, Alderton Way LLC, submitted an application for the demolition in February. The News Tribune has reached out to Alderton Way LLC for comment.
A News Tribune visual journalist saw a Pierce County Building and Code Enforcement stop work order posted at the demolition site Tuesday, dated May 19. The notice said a historic preservation officer’s approval was needed. More than half of the Alderton School had already been torn down before the notice was issued. The gym was still standing.
“Pierce County Planning and Public Works has identified that a demolition permit was issued in error in March 2026 for two structures at 9512 Orting Hwy E. County staff did not identify that the structures were listed on the historic register before the permit was issued,” county spokesperson Maranatha Hay said in an emailed statement to The News Tribune Tuesday.
The county confirmed the demolition began Monday. A stop work order was issued the same day after a county employee notified the development services team, she wrote. The permit for demolition covers the gym and school building.
“Applicants are not required to provide a reason for demolition when filing a permit. There are no other active pre-applications or permits on file under this parcel number indicating future development plans,” Hay wrote.
Hay said the county’s current permitting process includes an internal alert attached to parcels with historic designations in their review system. In the school and gym’s case, the alert did not prevent the permit from being issued.
“Pierce County Planning and Public Works is taking immediate steps to strengthen these safeguards, working with our permitting software administrators to implement more prominent visual alerts and automated controls that would prevent an application from moving forward without the required review when a historic designation is present,” Hay wrote.
The contractor for the demolition is required to work with the Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission before they can continue. The county said they are working with the contractor to secure the site, including installing fencing.
“Additionally, we are actively implementing safeguards in our permitting system to prevent this type of error from occurring again,” the statement said.
Posts made on local Orting-area Facebook groups show video of the demolition actively underway Monday.
The Alderton School was a two-story brick structure surrounded by farmland. Adjacent to the school was the brick gymnasium. They were both built in 1915 to replace an older wood frame building, according to a National Register of Historic Places Registration Form posted on the National Park Service website.
“Built in 1915, the two-story brick schoolhouse and brick gymnasium reflect the second period of rural school development in the county, when population growth and curricular expansion led to the construction of more substantial school buildings,” the form said.
The building was last used as an elementary school in 1958, according to a 2009 Courier-Herald story. The school and gym have recently sat vacant, with some graffiti visible from state Route 162.
“The Alderton School has been listed on the Pierce County Register of Historic Places since 1986, the Washington Heritage Register since 1987, and the National Register of Historic Places since 1987,” Hay wrote.
“Listing on such registries recognizes a property’s historical significance but does not, by itself, prevent private ownership, use, alteration, or demolition,” she said.
Michael Houser, state architectural historian at the Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, told The News Tribune their office is only involved in demolition reviews if there is a state or federal nexus via grant money, licensing or permitting.
“The only repercussion of demolition on our end is a delisting. We certainly don’t condone a demolition of a listed historic property, we just don’t have any authority over what a private property does with their own property using their own funding,” Houser wrote.
This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 12:34 PM.
