This history of Green Lake Elementary School is taken from the second edition of Building for Learning: Seattle Public School Histories, which includes histories of every school building used by the district since its formation around 1862. The original essay was written for the 2002 first edition by Nile Thompson and Carolyn J. Marr, and updated for the 2024 edition by HistoryLink editor Nick Rousso.
Modest Beginnings
Over 160 years ago, the Duwamish people were the inhabitants of the area and caught perch and suckers with basket traps at Green Lake. Then, in the late 1860s, the first homesteader came to the Green Lake area. He was a German immigrant, known locally as Green Lake John, who settled on the northwest shore of the lake. A number of families had settled in the area by 1876. A sawmill stood on the northeast shore near the Ravenna Creek outlet, with a logging railroad leading to Fremont. In 1888, Green Lake John sold his land to realtor William D. Wood and electrical engineer Edward C. Kilbourne, who built a trolley line to the lake from Seattle.
From 1879 to 1889, Green Lake residents sent their children to the Weedin School, located to the east. Then classes moved for a year to a house halfway between that location and Green Lake. The first Green Lake School opened in 1890, also in a private house. The one-room school was located at 5th Avenue NE and (N) E 72nd Street. When the Green Lake area was annexed into Seattle in 1891, an old-growth forest still stood on the southwestern corner, and a rough wagon road circled its shores. Wood, who became mayor in 1897, donated property for a new school to the Seattle School District. The district purchased the adjoining block from him at a discounted rate in June 1891. A school building, constructed on the south part of this site, opened in 1891-1892 with 36 pupils and one teacher. The staff doubled in 1893 as the student body grew to 56.
In 1898, the two-room building was moved to the southeastern corner of the grounds and two more rooms were added. The number of students continued to grow, making it necessary to establish annexes. During 1901-1902, the main schoolhouse held grades 3-8. Grades 1-4 were housed at the first Green Lake Annex located at Ravenna Boulevard and N 68th Street. Three classes for grades 2-5 were held at a second annex in the old Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Hall in back of the Green Lake Bank.
James Stephen Design
With their children scattered at three locations, residents petitioned the school board for a new school. A new Green Lake School was constructed on the school property, the first of 19 wood-frame school buildings based on a model plan designed by the district architect, James Stephen. During 1902-1903, its first year of operation, the school served 570 students in grades 1 through 8 with 14 teachers. A kindergarten class was added the following year.
A south wing, an expansion provided for in the original plans and construction, was added in 1907. This changed the building from a T-shape to an I-shape and increased the total number of classrooms to 20. The 1891-1892 building was then used for manual training and domestic science classes. In 1910, the school board bought the north half of the present school grounds, which contained a two-story store building and a small church. Thereafter, the store building housed the manual training shop downstairs and the domestic science room on its upper floor. The church, which stood on the northeast corner of the lower grounds, was converted into an auditorium.
In 1910-1911, Green Lake School was the first school in the city to initiate a platoon system. In the platoon system, students moved from their homerooms to attend classes in art, music, physical education, manual training, and domestic science in other rooms. In 1912, Green Lake was one of the first two schools west of Denver to show moving pictures. The first film was an early silent version of The Wizard of Oz.
A major regrading, terracing, and retaining-wall project was initiated in 1910. As part of the project, the old church building was relocated and placed on a new foundation. On Arbor Day in 1912, each class planted a sycamore tree on the west side of the school. On the building’s north side, they buried a bottle containing the names of the teacher and the students. Enrollment remained at around 650 from after World War I until the mid-1920s, when the school filled up with more than 800 pupils. In 1927, with the opening of John Marshall Junior High, 7th and 8th graders transferred, dropping the enrollment to 628 students. That same year, a frame gymnasium building was built in the northeast corner of the upper grounds. In 1929, two classrooms were remodeled into an auditorium, thus taking the role served by the old church.
During the 1940s, enrollment held steady at around 400 students. Green Lake School held after-school care programs for children of working parents. In 1949-1950, a new entrance to the boys basement was constructed on the south end of the building, just to the right of the (N)E 65th Street entrance. In 1959, five classrooms were soundproofed and wired for the hard-of-hearing program that transferred from Warren Avenue School.
New K-4 School
In 1969, the school district began plans for a new school to be built on the upper grounds for K-4 students. The new structure was built very close to the old wooden building, which they intended to tear down upon completion of the new construction. In fall 1970, the K-4 classes and special hard-of-hearing classes moved into the new brick building. However, a last-minute change in district planning kept the 5th and 6th grades at the school. There was no room for grades 5-6 in the new building so they were housed on the second floor of the wooden building. The old 1902 wooden building also housed 130 mentally handicapped children and a program for deaf and blind children.
In 1971, the 6th grade was moved to Hamilton Middle School. An open-concept alternative program began at Green Lake in 1972. In spring 1973, a new special class was added to the school for the education of pregnant high school girls earning credits for high school graduation without attending their area public high school.
In August 1982, newly installed carpeting in the 1970 building brought complaints of odors and irritations. This led to the evacuation of students and staff to the old building. After returning to the building on January 3, 1983, complaints continued, and occupants of both buildings moved to temporary quarters at Blaine for the remainder of the school term. In September 1983, the newer facility reopened, but the older building was never again occupied before being demolished in June 1986. A new outdoor playscape was erected in 1994. In 2015, a lunchroom, kitchen, and stage addition were completed.
In addition to its regular education program, Green Lake in the 2000s maintained special education programs for visually impaired and severely handicapped students. An intervention program served students needing extra assistance in developing their reading and math skills.
History
Green Lake School
Location: 1st Avenue NE & N 65th Street
Building: 2-room wood
Architect: James Parkinson
Site: n.a.
1891-92: Opened
1898: Relocated on-site and expanded
1902: Became an on-site annex in fall
1910: Closed
Green Lake School
Location: 2400 N 65th Street
Building: 12-room wood
Architect: James Stephen
Site: n.a.
1902: Opened in fall
1907: Addition (Stephen)
1910: Site expanded to 2.6 acres
1927: On-site annex added (n.a.)
1929: Remodeled
1949-50: Remodeled
1982: Closed in June
1986: Demolished in June
Green Lake Elementary School
Location: 2400 N 65th Street
Building: 1-story masonry
Architect: Manson Bennett
Site: 3.33 acres
1970: Opened on September 1
2014: Lunchroom/kitchen addition (Studio Meng Strazzara)
Green Lake Elementary in 2023
Enrollment: 352
Address: 2400 N 65th Street
Nickname: Dragons
Configuration: K-5
Colors: Green and blue
