Queen Anne Families Went to Court to Fix a Crumbling Schoolhouse
In 1894, residents sued to freeze old school-fund warrants, arguing that 225 Queen Anne children were crammed into a dangerous wooden building.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The strenuous efforts made by the residents of Queen Anne to secure a new schoolhouse were in a measure successful yesterday, when Judge Langley granted a temporary injunction in the case of J. W. Clise against the Seattle School District No. 1 and County Treasurer Mitten. The order restrains the treasurer from paying out of the school fund of 1894 any warrants issued for services rendered during previous years. As Judge Langley explained to the reporter of the Post-Intelligencer: "This injunction does not affect the contracts of 1894, or the salaries of the teachers for the same year. I make this explanation in order to prevent any scare somebody might create as growing out of this temporary injunction on the payment of warrants."
The defendants filed a general demurrer to the complaint, but it is believed that, owing to the importance of the case, they will ask to have the same heard as soon as possible so that the temporary injunction can either be made permanent or dissolved without delay.
H. R. C. Clise, who is acting as one of the attorneys for plaintiff in the interests of the Queen Anne people, when seen after the granting of the temporary injunction, said that they would push the matter until they secured what they started for, namely a good school building that will accommodate the 225 children who are affected by the movement. Mr. Clise said that another petition would be started that would give the name and age of every child of school age.
The complaint alleges that the city owns a school site on Queen Anne on which a poor board structure does duty for a schoolhouse, which is inadequate to the requirements of the district and, besides, is dangerous to the health of the children on account of its dilapidated condition. Of the taxes actually collected, the injunction only affects about $18,300, that being the proportion which the collections bear to the total levy.
“a poor board structure does duty for a schoolhouse ... dangerous to the health of the children on account of its dilapidated condition”
School facilities fights are still civic flashpoints in Seattle, where growth outruns buildings and levies become referenda on who gets a safe classroom. This 1894 injunction shows the same arguments — inadequate buildings, crowded children, and withheld public money — playing out in a much smaller city. The Queen Anne families won a court order, not a new school.
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