This history of Jane Addams 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 in 2023 by HistoryLink contributor Ryan Anthony Donaldson.
Born in Shoreline
Jane Addams Junior High School opened in September 1949. At that time, and for the next five years, it was a secondary school in the Shoreline School District No. 412, which included the area bounded by 82nd on the south and the Snohomish County line on the north. As Shoreline’s major secondary school, Addams was designed as a first-class facility with a capacity of 1,250 students. The Shoreline School Board selected a site that had been part of a farm located across from the Meadowbrook Golf Course. The lower section near (N)E 110th Street was a pasture for horses. The site bordered the old Pacific Highway, which ran from Ravenna north to (N)E 110th, turning at 34th Avenue (N)E to continue north past what became the front entrance of the school. The building was meant to serve as a community center for the north end and a fully professional stage was included in the auditorium design.
The school was one of two junior high schools named as a result of an essay contest sponsored by the Shoreline district in fall 1947. Students were asked to write an essay about a Nobel Prize winner. One of the winning entries was submitted by Marlene Mondala, an elementary school student from Maple Leaf who discussed the life of Jane Addams. Addams was a noted American social worker who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. When Addams Junior High opened in September 1949, only 7th and 8th graders were enrolled. The 9th grade was added the following fall. Around 1951, an addition was made for boys and girls gymnasiums. Within a few years of opening, Addams enrollment soared to over 2,250, and the student body went to an "overlapping shift" program.
On March 13, 1953, the Seattle School Board passed a resolution approving the joint operation of Addams with the Shoreline School District for the 1953-54 school year. The following year, when territory south of 145th Street and mostly north of 85th Street was annexed into the City of Seattle, Addams became an official part of the Seattle School District and the number of students dropped to 1,200.
Neighboring Hale
The high quality of the school’s auditorium was evident when the University of Washington leased it after Meany Auditorium on the university campus was demolished due to earthquake damage in 1965. Nathan Hale High School, located across the street, lacked an auditorium, and also staged productions at Addams.
When overcrowding again became a problem in 1972, parents suggested allowing 9th graders to attend Hale, built in 1963. In September 1979, the 9th graders were moved to Hale. From 1979 to 1983, Addams housed only 7th and 8th graders, and its enrollment dropped significantly, to 530 students. A reentry program was co-located at Addams in the fall of 1982 for students who were on long-term suspension or expulsion and seeking readmission. The program was located at Addams for only one year, since a long-range plan enacted by the school board in 1981 had Addams scheduled for closure.
The building closed as a middle school in June 1983. The spacious facility became home to several tenants, including a preschool, daycare center, gymnastics school, the Civic Light Opera, a semi-professional theatre company, and others.
A School Once Again
In 1985, Summit K-12 Alternative School moved into Addams when its site at Colman School was engulfed by the Interstate 90 con-struction project. Summit was an integrated school, with a focus on the arts, experiential learning, and community involvement. Some Summit parents were not pleased by the new location as they preferred to stay in the central part of the city, but Addams offered facilities vital to a K-12 program like a gymnasium and science labs. Over the years, updates were made to the site to accommodate students from all grades with strong support from the community. Some other tenants, like the Civic Light Opera, rented available space while Summit was at Addams. With a decline in enrollment, the Summit K-12 program was closed in 2009 and Jane Addams was repurposed as the home of a new Jane Addams K-8 option school program with an environmental science curriculum.
As part of the renovation of Nathan Hale in 2010, the greenhouse that supports the Nathan Hale High School horticulture program was constructed at Jane Addams. There was not enough space at Hale, once the original space provided by Seattle Public Utilities was reclaimed for the Meadowbrook Pond rehabilitation project for stormwater retention and floodwater control. The program included exterior garden beds, soil storage, and classrooms support.
In 2013, the Jane Addams building was slated to reopen as a comprehensive middle school, and the Addams K-8 program was going to be displaced. In preparation for this change, the Addams K-8 option school program relocated to John Marshall as its interim site in 2014, while its new facility was being constructed at the Pinehurst site. The program name was changed to Hazel Wolf K-8 while it was temporarily housed at Marshall to avoid confusion between two programs with the name Jane Addams. The new Pinehurst School opened with the Hazel Wolf K-8 program in 2016.
Meanwhile, the new comprehensive Jane Addams Middle School opened in 2014 with a 960-student capacity to help alleviate high enrollment numbers at Eckstein Middle School. The project to modernize the 165,000-square-foot school building was carried out in phases from 2014 to 2017, while the school remained open. The renovation included new classrooms, offices, and staff conference rooms, along with seismic upgrades and other improvements. In 2020, portable classrooms were added to accommodate high enrollment numbers. The athletic field was replaced, and additional building modifications were performed for Special Education programs.
History
Jane Addams Middle School
Location: 11051 34th Avenue NE
Building: 40-room brick and concrete
Architect: Mallis, DeHart & Hopkins
Site: 17.21 acres
1949: Opened as Addams Junior High in September by Shoreline School District
1951: Addition (Mallis, DeHart & Hopkins)
1954: Annexed July 1 into Seattle School District
1984: Closed; leased
1985: Reopened as alternative school site
2000: Hale/Addams Athletic Complex renovated and expanded
2009: Summit K-12 program closed; Addams K-8 option school program opened
2014: K-8 option program relocated to John Marshall (interim) and renamed Hazel Wolf K-8
2014: Jane Addams opens as a comprehensive middle school
2014-2017: Modernization, phased project, school remains open (Hutteball + Oremus Architecture)
2020: Athletic fields replaced, and building modifications for Special Education programs
Jane Addams Middle School in 2023
Enrollment: 1,006
Address: 11051 34th Avenue NE
Nickname: Jaguars
Configuration: 6-8
Colors: Blue and gold
