The Struggle for Seattle’s First Classrooms
Before the city became an educational powerhouse, Seattle’s early schools were built on the backs of local volunteers, rented rooms, and desperate community fundraising.
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 quest for a school house agitated the minds of our citizens for many years before any action was taken. In February 1866, the directors were authorized to rent and furnish a site. On January 14, 1868, the district voted to levy a tax of one mill to buy the two lots recommended for the central part of town. The school of that day was the result of the untiring and self-sacrificing labors of a faithful few. By 1884, the population of students in attendance had reached 838; by 1886, it was 1110. The school attendance for the year 1886 reached 96.5 percent—the highest per cent ever attained in any city of the Union. The teachers of Seattle are here to stay; they allow no opportunity for self-improvement to escape them. They are members of a branch of the Chautauqua Teachers' Reading Union, which embraces a three-year course in professional reading and psychology.
“The school of that day was the result of the untiring and self-sacrificing labors of a faithful few.”
This 1887 report highlights the rapid, tax-funded expansion of Seattle's public schools, emphasizing a 'highest in the Union' attendance rate. The tension between rapid population growth and the need for public infrastructure echoes today's ongoing debates in Seattle regarding school funding, levy approvals, and the capacity of the district to house its students.
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