The building is one of the state's oldest surviving brick schools, and typifies their characteristic boxy, bracketed, Italianate style.

[3] It was nominated for being a rare surviving example of Minnesota's early brick schools, and for its association with Reads Landing's peak as a lumber milling boomtown.

At the base of the walls, an unusual water table is formed by three projecting courses of bricks atop the protruding limestone foundation.

[4][5] Early architects Abraham M. Radcliffe and Charles G. Maybury popularized squarish, Italianate government buildings in Southeast Minnesota, both for schools and courthouses.

Contractor Daniel C. Hill of Red Wing was involved in all four projects, and the unusual brick water table appeared on each as if it were his architectural signature.

[4] In 1882 the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway opted to route across the Mississippi River into Minnesota at Wabasha rather than Reads Landing.