The Cleveland Journal
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Special Edition of TThehe ClevelandCleveland JournalJournal A publication of the CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION A new life begins at 80 for Cleveland High School You’re invited! - See celebration schedule inside Plus: Sports through the years Memories of Cleveland What you didn’t even know you didn’t know Cleveland High School All School Reunion & Open House Saturday, September 22, 2007 CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL Non-Profi t Org. ALUMNI ASSOCIATION U.S. Postage P.O. Box 94004 PAID Seatttle, WA 98124-9404 Seattle, WA Permit No. 2571 2 The Cleveland Journal How Cleveland Was Born the First Time By Don Duncan (’43) In 1923, Cole sat down with the school lish and composition, and Miss Henrietta that summer Hollywood released its fi rst leveland’s very existence is a miracle, board and said, “Gentlemen, it’s time we Burgess, art and extracurricular activities. talking-picture, Th e Jazz Singer, starring Cranking along with having Boeing, take a hard look at the need for a South Cole suggested that to make room Al Jolson, and that fall Babe Ruth hit 60 Microsoft, Starbuck’s and Nordstrom all End high school.” for the new high school, the four-room home runs and had his salary raised to wind up in Seattle’s backyard. Th e all-male school board, dressed in Maple Elementary School at the corner $100,000. When asked if it didn’t bother No one is exactly sure when the idea the dark suits and stiff collars of the time, of 15th Avenue South and Lucile Street him to earn more than the president of of a South End high school was fi rst pro- listened as Cole laid out the pros and be moved several blocks to the north and the United States, the Babe replied, “I had posed to the Seattle School Board. Most cons. Th e chief opposition, the superin- that additional land to the south and a better year than he did.” likely it was around the end of World War tendent said, came from those who felt west be purchased through a $15,000 Th ose memorable events all came after I (1918). there were not enough students in the bond issue. the Big One on Jan. 3, 1927. Th e school board politely responded area to justify a new high school. Cole Th e school – designed by Floyd On that day Principal Gridley, teach- that there weren’t enough young people disagreed. Naramore, the district’s main architect ers and students picked up boxes fi lled in the area to warrant building another If a school were built – with the same – would cost the then-outrageous sum with maps, books, chalk, erasers, paper high school. Next item on the agenda, fl oor plan as Garfi eld and Roosevelt, but of $750,000. Construction on the fi rst and pencils and began the now-famous please! with everything “just a little bit better” phase (the west side of the building) “Walk Up the Hill” from Georgetown By the early 1920s, however, South – pressure would ease on the other high- began in 1925 and was completed in Elementary School – across Duwamish End PTA’s and Improvement Clubs had schools and the high dropout-rate in the December 1926; the second phase (the Avenue (now Airport Way), where they become increasingly vocal, arguing that South End would fall, Cole argued. In east hallway) began in the summer of held up traffi c, and on to the many fl ights students from South Park and the west short, “build it and they will come,” which 1927 and was completed in December of of stairs up the old wooden Lucile Street side of Beacon Hill were causing over- sounds like the plot for an academic ver- that year. Bridge. crowding at Queen Anne, West Seattle, sion of Field of Dreams. It was tentatively decided to name the Finally, they arrived at the new – still Broadway and Franklin high schools. To guarantee suffi cient enrollment to school Woodrow Wilson Junior-Senior uncompleted – three-story Grover Cleve- Th ey added that while getting up at 5 justify building a new school, the super- High School, in honor of the president land Junior-Senior High School, with its o’clock every morning to catch a streetcar intendent proposed including a two-year who led the nation during World War 31 classrooms and 240-seat cafeteria. across town had become a way of life for junior high school in the package, making I. Almost immediately a protest was Upon entering the new school, stu- many South End teenagers, an increas- it a six-year educational facility. launched by the large Republican contin- dents were ushered into the auditorium ing number were dropping out of school Th e school board bought the idea. It gent on the school board. and lectured by Principal Gridley on the because of the inconvenience. was agreed that in the beginning stu- It wasn’t just that Wilson was a Demo- do’s and don’ts of good citizenship in In 1923 the “we-want-our-own-school” dents for the new high school would crat, they said, but he had been president such a wonderful structure “built for your chant caught the ear of Th omas Cole, be drawn from Georgetown, Maple, too recently and been too controversial education.” then Seattle’s superintendent of schools. Concord, Van Asselt and South Seattle el- for his name to be attached to a new Although the auditorium was not yet ementary schools and be housed tempo- school. completed, Architect Naramore said it rarily on the second fl oor of Georgetown A compromise was called for. Demo- eventually would be as impressive as Elementary School. In time, Cleveland’s crats and Republican met and settled Seattle’s new Fifth Avenue, Coliseum CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL boundary would be expanded to include on Grover Cleveland, the only president and Orpheum movie theaters. It was ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Beacon Hill teenagers living west of Bea- to serve two separate four-year terms. perhaps a slight exaggeration, especially P.O. Box 94004 con Avenue. Th ose on the east side would He was a Democrat, like Wilson, and his promise of a great chandelier to hang Seattle, WA 98124-9404 go to Franklin. although he had fathered a child out of from the ceiling, presumably as a prop for Seventy students showed up in the fall wedlock nobody talked about it much. Be- Th e Phantom of the Opera. Th e chande- OFFICERS of 1924 and were greeted by a principal, sides, Cleveland’s time in offi ce had been lier never materialized, and by the time President H.N. Gridley, who had been teaching his- far enough in the past to be acceptable to people got around to missing it the coun- Don Mills ‘49 tory at Broadway High School and would the Republicans. try was mired in the Great Depression. (206) 878-2401 continue to do so at the new school. Grid- 1927 was to be a year of consider- But give Gridley credit. Th e school [email protected] ley had a staff of three teachers: Kenneth able historical signifi cance in the United board had given him the option of having Hassenmiller, math and science and a States. In May, Charles Lindbergh made a large study hall or an auditorium in Secretary little coaching; Miss Beryl Smith (women the fi rst solo fl ight across the Atlantic the new school. Gridley wisely chose the Ken Dorsett ‘54 teachers were all Misses back then), Eng- in the monoplane “Spirit of St. Louis,” more expensive auditorium. (206) 232-2149 Among the special features of the [email protected] school were soundproofed rooms for music, typing and oral-expression classes, Treasurer and such “modern kitchen gadgetry” as Alison W. Sing ‘64 an electric potato-peeler, a steam-cooker (425) 742-1782 and an automatic bread-slicer. [email protected] Despite some grumbling about the cost, South End voters – wanting their BOARD MEMBERS new school to be the very best – de- Michelle Burge ‘81 manded that the auditorium be fi nished (206) 723-1312 and that the school be provided with [email protected] gymnasiums. Naramore also had included a swimming pool in his original plans, Pat Coluccio ‘47 something that was to be found in no (253) 852-4229 other Seattle school. Th e school board [email protected] weighed all the options, against available money, and approved the gymnasiums Bernie Moskowitz ‘57 and the auditorium. Th e swimming pool (206) 772-6285 disappeared from the plans. According to offi cial Seattle Public Ginny Ogle ‘64 School records compiled by Kenneth (206) 937-2209 Selby, Cleveland’s third principal, there were 50 students in Cleveland’s fi rst JoAnn Victor Smith ‘56 graduating class June 14, 1928. (425) 487-3952 Th e valedictorian was Marguerite Fox [email protected] and the salutatorian was Mona Mueller. membership database coordinator Other student speakers included Lulu Sakura, Walter Fisher, Gunnar Carlson Peggy J. Soong-Yaplee ‘71 and Marjorie Brown. (206) 723-4138 Class offi cers were Walter Fisher, presi- [email protected] dent, and Jean Wilson, Bob McChesney and Kathleen Everham. Jim Southcott ‘56 Selecting colors for the new school (206) 762-0334 was relatively easy. No other school had chosen red and white. Nicole R. Washington ‘80 Picking a nickname took more time. A (253) 941-2375 student-body nicknaming contest yielded [email protected] Vera Chan-Pool ‘91 Th e original Cleveland High School facade See How Cleveland Was Born on next page CHSAA Newsletter Editor Special Edition 3 A New Life Begins At 80 For Cleveland By Don Duncan “the same old Cleveland.” Not only has High School now buys just a nice, but not became Edison Vocational-Technical (’43) the original façade been preserved, but al- especially imposing, four-bedroom home School.