A High School for the Tourist Hotel
Tacoma school officials and activists weigh a bold plan to convert a prominent local hotel into a much-needed, fireproof high school.
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At an open meeting of the school board yesterday, the question of a new high school building was discussed. After several hours of debate, the board resolved to submit a $150,000 bond measure to the voters in April, questioning whether to build on the existing site or the Tourist Hotel site. Superintendent Warner argued that the current building is inadequate, overcrowded, and lacks essential facilities like a manual training shop and proper laboratory space. Mrs. E. A. Henderson, president of the City Federation of Women's Clubs, championed the Tourist Hotel site, arguing that the building would serve as a permanent advertisement for the city's progress and provide a needed assembly hall for the community.
“The population of Tacoma is rapidly growing, and for this reason it would be as impractical for the city to endeavor to expand the old building for the large attendance as it would be for a parent to try to keep a growing boy in infant clothing by patching up the burst-out places.”
The debate over repurposing grand, historic structures for public utility remains a familiar challenge in Tacoma. While the 'Tourist Hotel' vision didn't result in that specific conversion, the tension between preserving historic assets and meeting the infrastructure needs of a growing city continues to drive local civic discourse.
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