Early Enumclaw Schools and Districts:
Part 2--Enumclaw School District
Part 2--Enumclaw School District
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While all this growing and building were going on, nearly all the country schools became a part of Enumclaw School District. But in 1949, consolidation took a strange turn. To make better use of resources, Enumclaw and Buckley School Districts decided to become one--the White River School District. The Enumclaw Tigers and the Buckley Mountaineers became the White River Hornets.
You guessed it. A divorce was in the making, almost from day one. Each school--and town--mourned the loss of identity. The Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce in particular pushed for separation. So in 1953, the two districts again drew a line in the river. Textbooks, supplies, equipment, even the $26,000 in the bank, were all divided. But one problem remained. Money was still short, and neither high school could afford new uniforms or football helmets. So today we have the maroon and gold Enumclaw hornets and the maroon and gold White River hornets. (21)
One additional quirk in this strange turn of events: the property where Enumclaw High School is now was owned jointly by the combined White River School District. After the divorce, since Buckley kept the White River name and Enumclaw did not, it appeared, at least to Chicago Title Company, that White River still owned the land where the combined high school was to be built. That matter was not cleared up until April 27, 1973, when Buckley issued a quit claim to Enumclaw. (22)
There was still one last country school sitting out there by itself. In June of 1961, the Newaukum School closed its doors and joined Enumclaw School District. (23)
However, consolidation was not yet complete. The next addition was the entire Black Diamond School District # 190, dissolved on July 24, 1975 and annexed to Enumclaw. That decision displeased many people on both sides of the river, but was mandated by the State Board of Education.
So now Enumclaw School District, unique in both its history and geography, currently borders Thorp, Cle Elum-Roslyn, Easton, Snoqualmie Valley, Tahoma, Auburn, Dieringer, White River, and Kent districts. And by the way, we still serve a piece of Pierce County--Greenwater and up the line from there.
That is the strange story of how Enumclaw School District #216 came to be.
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NOTES
1. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Amanda White Rogers interview. p. 89.
2. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Matilda Johnson Morris interview. p. 93-94.
3. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Mrs. R. W. Thomson interview. p.48.
4. http://plateaucommunityplayers.webs.com/osceolacommunityclub.htm
5. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 86.
6. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 47.
7. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. 181.
8. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Josephine Puttman Kincade interview. p. 16.
9. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Sorensen interview. p. 49.
10. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p.113
11. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p.184
12. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 107.
13. Shadow 78, "75 Years Ago Today [1935]: Vote to Consolidate Mud Mt and Enumclaw School Districts". Enumclaw Courier. July 5, 2010.
14. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 211.
15. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 211.
16. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 211.
17. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 12.
18. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 14.
19. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 37
20. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 105.
21. "'Divorced Schools Got Joint Custody of Colors, Nickname", Seattle Times. April 2, 2002.
22. Email from Tim Madden, Enumclaw School District, to Nancy Merrill. January 24, 2012.
23. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 39.
You guessed it. A divorce was in the making, almost from day one. Each school--and town--mourned the loss of identity. The Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce in particular pushed for separation. So in 1953, the two districts again drew a line in the river. Textbooks, supplies, equipment, even the $26,000 in the bank, were all divided. But one problem remained. Money was still short, and neither high school could afford new uniforms or football helmets. So today we have the maroon and gold Enumclaw hornets and the maroon and gold White River hornets. (21)
One additional quirk in this strange turn of events: the property where Enumclaw High School is now was owned jointly by the combined White River School District. After the divorce, since Buckley kept the White River name and Enumclaw did not, it appeared, at least to Chicago Title Company, that White River still owned the land where the combined high school was to be built. That matter was not cleared up until April 27, 1973, when Buckley issued a quit claim to Enumclaw. (22)
There was still one last country school sitting out there by itself. In June of 1961, the Newaukum School closed its doors and joined Enumclaw School District. (23)
However, consolidation was not yet complete. The next addition was the entire Black Diamond School District # 190, dissolved on July 24, 1975 and annexed to Enumclaw. That decision displeased many people on both sides of the river, but was mandated by the State Board of Education.
So now Enumclaw School District, unique in both its history and geography, currently borders Thorp, Cle Elum-Roslyn, Easton, Snoqualmie Valley, Tahoma, Auburn, Dieringer, White River, and Kent districts. And by the way, we still serve a piece of Pierce County--Greenwater and up the line from there.
That is the strange story of how Enumclaw School District #216 came to be.
---------------------------------------------------
NOTES
1. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Amanda White Rogers interview. p. 89.
2. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Matilda Johnson Morris interview. p. 93-94.
3. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Mrs. R. W. Thomson interview. p.48.
4. http://plateaucommunityplayers.webs.com/osceolacommunityclub.htm
5. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 86.
6. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 47.
7. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. 181.
8. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Josephine Puttman Kincade interview. p. 16.
9. Pioneer History of Enumclaw. Women's Progressive Club. Sorensen interview. p. 49.
10. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p.113
11. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p.184
12. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 107.
13. Shadow 78, "75 Years Ago Today [1935]: Vote to Consolidate Mud Mt and Enumclaw School Districts". Enumclaw Courier. July 5, 2010.
14. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 211.
15. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 211.
16. Nancy Irene Hall. In the Shadow of the Mountain. The Courier Publishing, Enumclaw, 1983, and republished by Heritage Quest Press, Orting, 2004. p. 211.
17. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 12.
18. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 14.
19. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 37
20. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 105.
21. "'Divorced Schools Got Joint Custody of Colors, Nickname", Seattle Times. April 2, 2002.
22. Email from Tim Madden, Enumclaw School District, to Nancy Merrill. January 24, 2012.
23. Louise Poppleton. There Is Only One Enumclaw. 1995. p. 39.
Enumclaw School Busses
Enumclaw School District #216, 1887-1949, 1953-2013
Early Stevensonville, as some citizens then called Enumclaw to honor its founders, had no school, so the few children walked several miles out the railroad bed to Coal Creek and back, or braved the muddy trail to Osceola. By the 1880s, the established Osceola District claimed all the land between the White and Green River to the crest of the Cascades. They tolerated Coal Creek because it was so small and remote, but they actively resisted Enumclaw's efforts to get its own school district. When everyone in Enumclaw signed a petition to get its own district, the county superintendent rejected it outright. However, an election was about to take place. A Missouri native named S. P. Rich was running for King County Superintendent on the fringe Citizens' Party ticket, and Enumclaw also had a Missouri native, Oscar Welch. The town "held a meeting and decided that the time had arrived to secure what we were after. We therefore instructed Mr. Welch in the manner he was to handle Rich." (15) Welch met with Mr. Rich and promised him all the votes from Enumclaw if he would grant them their own school district. Rich received 80 of the 81 Enumclaw votes, won the election, and immediately made good on his promise.But the strange story of intrigue doesn't end there. Most of townspeople wanted the school district to be small, just for themselves. However, Art Griffin had a different idea. He drew up the boundaries on his own and submitted them to a grateful Rich, who approved them in 1887. (16) Residents here (and in Osceola) were surprised to learn that the new Enumclaw School District 216 stretched between the two rivers and from Auburn to the crest of the Cascades.
Early Enumclaw Schools
Enumclaw's first school was another simple shack of hand-split cedar boards, (17) probably on Porter Street near the current Presbyterian Church. According to Louise Poppleton, the first teacher, Miss Granville, had better looks than teaching skills, and the school closed after a month. Enumclaw's students then had to return to the Osceola school or Coal Creek. (18)
In 1891, the residents of the town erected a two-storey school building where the city hall now stands, with donated land (by the Stevensons), materials, and labor. The first level was used for two classrooms, the second for town meetings and dances. Citizens pooled their resources to buy an organ from a traveling salesman for the second floor. (19) Four years later, a new three-storey school was built. The old one was sold to Gabrielle Tamelle, who later married Arthur Griffin. She had it moved and used it as a hotel for several years. (Two favorite obsessions of our early citizens were holding dances and moving buildings.)
The two-story school replaced the cedar shack.
The new three-storey school, complete with a large bell tower, was the pride of the town. The building served the community well, but Archie McKinnon, James Montgomery, and Anton Johansen convinced them that with Enumclaw's population then topping a thousand, the current space would soon be inadequate. In fact, the town did experience rapid growth in the next few years, and the process of consolidation of the surrounding country schools was just beginning. (20)
The new school from Griffin and Wells, with the Presbyterian Church in the background
In 1910, the first J. J. Smith School, named after the highly regarded Enumclaw doctor and state senator, was built. It was a three-story brick building with nineteen classrooms and an auditorium. The Fair Organization owned the land at Griffin and Fell, but gave it to the city when they went out of business. The city traded the plot for the site of the big wooden school and made it a park (and home of City Hall in 1922.)
Grand opening of the J. J. Smith School in 1910
Barn behind J. J. Smith, for students who rode their horses to school.
Enumclaw continued to grow, and in 1921 constructed another three-story brick school on Porter Street where Garrett Park and the skate park are located now. Dwight Garrett bought the property and gave it to the school district. The graves from the Pioneer Cemetery, which had earlier been moved to that site, were then moved to their final resting place at Evergreen Cemetery. An additional nine rooms were added for a junior high in 1927. And in 1957, J.J. #1 was torn down and replaced with a second J. J. Smith School, a one-level elementary. Finally, the Porter Street building was torn down when the current high school and middle school were built.
Enumclaw High School annuals,
from before Enumclaw became the White River Hornets
from before Enumclaw became the White River Hornets