Less than a year after assuming his new role, Billinghurst negotiated $100,000 ($2,631,579 in 2015 dollars[4]) construct two new elementary schools in Reno, then a city of around 10,000 people.

[6] Designed by the architect George A. Ferris, the schools were one story, with three sides of classrooms centered around a courtyard, within which was a fountain with a flagpole jutting out.

[5] The new schools were not only necessary, they were modern and state-of-the-art at the time: a 1909 Nevada State Journal article wrote that the auditorium stage "lit with real electric lamps" and the "central air system, with thermostats in each room.

"[5] A year later, construction began on two more one-story Mission Revival school buildings, both also designed by Ferris.

The two buildings were similar in size and design to McKinley Park and Orvis Ring, but of more elaborate decoration, with large Moorish-style domed towers framing their entrances.

The one-story plan eliminates the stair climbing so destructive to the nervous strength of pupils and teachers, and also renders danger from fire impossible.

[1] He was also a lecturer on educational matters at the University of Nevada, Reno, from which he later received an honorary Legum Doctor.