This history of Worth McClure Middle 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.
Worth McClure
In the early 1960s, a new junior high school was needed to reduce overcrowding at Queen Anne High School, which also housed junior high school students. The planned school was named Elisha P. Ferry Junior High School after Washington’s first governor. Two years later, in 1964, the school opened, and it was renamed to honor Worth McClure, who served as Seattle’s Superintendent of Schools for 14 years (1930-1944). Most of the initial teaching staff came from Queen Anne Junior High School.
The school featured 30 teaching stations and was designed for 850 students, making it one of the district’s smallest intermediate schools. When it opened, its enrollment was slightly over capacity. A trimester system was employed rather than the traditional semester system. Several significant changes took place during the 1981-1982 school year. First, it changed configuration from grades 7-9 to 6-8. It also added students from Magnolia following the closing of Blaine. Lastly, with the closing of Queen Anne High School, McClure became a feeder school for Franklin High School.
McClure’s small size was not a negative factor because of its location adjacent to a six-acre Seattle Park Department facility that contained the Queen Anne Recreation Center, pool, and playfield, which offered a wide range of after-school activities. In 1987, the Multi-International Color Society was formed. Annual activities included charity efforts, outreach programs, and a spring ethnic week celebration. In the 1990s, McClure committed to improving its science instruction by implementing a full-year science program for all grades. In November 1999, the school installed a weather station on the school roof. With this technology, and aided by partners at the University of Washington, students were able to monitor local climatic changes and compare them with data from the Pathfinder Mars mission. All 7th grade students participated in an activity called Project Reach, a self-directed cultural exploration culminating in a schoolwide fair and regional exhibition.
In 2009 and 2010, the district used levy funds to improve the science rooms. Additional funds from a voter-approved levy in 2013 funded additional science lab improvements, which were completed in 2020. In 2012 McClure was among the 24 middle schools in Washington (out of about 450) to receive the School of Distinction Award from The Center for Educational Effectiveness. In the spring of 2019, the 7th grade class researched, designed, and planted the district’s first ethnobotanical garden. McClure staff, students, PTSA and community partners worked together to bring this legacy project to fruition, and the garden was incorporated into the 7th grade curriculum.
History
Worth McClure Junior High School
Location: 1915 1st Avenue W
Building: Brick
Architect: Edward Mahlum
Site: 2.3 acres
1962: Named Elisha P. Ferry Junior High School on November 28
1964: Named Worth McClure Junior High School on March 11; opened in September
1981: Renamed Worth McClure Middle School
McClure Middle School in 2023
Enrollment: 484
Address: 1915 1st Avenue W
Nickname: Mavericks
Configuration: 6-8
Colors: Black and gold
