Seattle’s population grew quickly after 1900, and when the West Woodland Grade School opened in 1910 it was already overcrowded. Two additions, north and south wings, were added to the original building in 1913 and 1925.  The school served children from NW Seattle for 80 years before being replaced by a new building in 1991.

The original West Woodland Grade School had a twin when it opened in 1910.  A Seattle Times article, dated January 16, 1910, records that two new school buildings were to open and that they “…will be alike in all the important details…”. These identical schools, West Woodland & York School (now John Muir), were estimated to cost about $55,000 each and were both scheduled to be completed by September 1, 1910. Neither of these brick schools exist today.

The black and white photo of West Woodland Grade School, dated 1928, is courtesy the Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection, image number 1983.10.4032.

Additional school history is available at the following links:

Building for Learning: Seattle Public School Histories, 1862-2000 by Nile Thompson and Carolyn J. Marr. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Building-Learning-Seattles-Histories-1862-2000/dp/B006YZ6658

HistoryLink.org: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=10610