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PHOTO BY SCOTT LEACH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCKINLEY. Eunice Trobridge (second from left), class of 1927, was the oldest former student in attendance for the school’s 100th birthday party. With her are (back row) Pili Wolfe, principal, and Calvin Goings, Pierce County Councilmember; (front row) Dr. Arthur Jarvis, superintendent; and Tacoma School Board members Debbie Winskill and Connie Rickman.

McKinley Elementary School reaches 100th year

By Matt Nagle

The 100th birthday of McKinley Elementary School was celebrated May 17 in grand fashion. More than 200 people – present and former students, parents, teachers and community leaders – gathered at the school to mark the occasion with a cake and a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” led by the McKinley kindergarteners.  

“It was a lovely party,” said Pam Leach, office coordinator at the school and chair of the planning committee that was made up of about 20 of McKinley’s teachers, para-educators and office staff.

The school was decorated with balloons and streamers in the school’s colors, blue and gold, and celebrants were encouraged to tour the building and its many classrooms. Displays in the cafeteria illustrated each decade of the school’s history, and a camera was set up in the principal’s office where those who wished could talk on video about their memories of the school.

The party opened with a short program emceed by McKinley Principal Pili Wolfe. Speakers included new Tacoma Schools Superintendent Dr. Arthur Jarvis, school board members Debbie Winskill and Connie Rickman, and Pierce County Councilmember Calvin Goings.

The audience was delighted to hear the McKinley school song played by the McKinley Rock ‘n’ Rollers.

Eunice Trobridge from the class of 1927 was introduced as the oldest alumna in attendance. She was called to the stage and held the cake while the children sang “Happy Birthday.”

Trobridge said she was pleased that her alma mater was being celebrated upon reaching its centennial. “McKinley Hill has gotten so much bad publicity, I thought it was wonderful that they did it,” she said.

Trobridge wrote a short and quite interesting history of the McKinley School in the 1920s that was enlarged and hung in a display case during the event.

McKinley Elementary School started as an eight-room schoolhouse erected in 1908. Other additions and changes were done in 1920, 1954, 1958 and 1967. Trobridge wrote that while she was going there, about 1923-1927, it was a two-story brick structure with lower grades studying reading, writing and language on the first floor and upper grades on the second floor studying math, geography, spelling and music.

The basement was for recreation, and the students played there during recess when the weather was bad. There was no cafeteria, and most students went home for lunch, as there were very few working mothers at that time.

Trobridge described a typical school day: “When children came to school they either stayed in the basement or, weather permitting, on the outside gravel playgrounds, girls on the north field and boys on the south. They did not play together.

“When the bell was rung, children went to their respective rooms. The teachers opened their doors and students entered and went into a narrow cloakroom at the front of the room. Pegs were provided for hanging the coats. This room was also used for punishment periods and even paddling by the teacher or principal.”

Over the years the school went through modernizing upgrades, including additions to make the school larger. The slate blackboards went out of use and with them went the need to clean the chalk dust from the felt erasers. “It was an honor to be asked to clean the erasers by going outside and clapping them together,” Trobridge reminisced.

She said she also noticed another obvious change to the classrooms. In her day, “the desks were anchored to the floor. They had fold-down seats and a flat-top desk,” Trobridge wrote. Today, the classrooms utilize tables that students sit at and, of course, computers are in every room. Trobridge said that overall, the school “didn’t look to me as structured as when I went there.”

Due to teachers advancing her to higher grades by skipping some grades in between, at 11 years old Trobridge completed grade school. She graduated on Jan. 26, 1927, with 26 of her classmates. At 92 years old, she was the only one from her sixth-grade graduating class to attend the birthday celebration.

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