Early schools in the Edmonds District were humble structures.

By Betty Lou Gaeng

Perspectivepast@gmail.com

When Lynnwood/Alderwood Manor pioneer Gordon Hunter died in 1971 at age 82, he left a record of his memories of the early days of Lynnwood. Born in Wisconsin in 1889, he was the eldest child in the family and only 2 when his parents, Duncan and Jennie Hunter, traveled west in 1891 to carve out a home in the wilderness of south Snohomish County in the new state of Washington.

Gordon Hunter spent most of his life on his parents’ homestead — the land at the top of the hill just west of what is today Alderwood mall in Lynnwood. He had endless knowledge of the history of the logging days, education and many other subjects. In addition, schooling meant a lot to the young Gordon and also to his younger brothers, William, Reuben and Basil.

As Hunter told the story, the first school in the rural Edmonds School District No. 15 was a one-room log building in the upland area, about six miles east of the town. The small log building was built by his father on the northwest corner of the Hunters’ 80-acre homestead. Hunter School opened in 1896 for a three-month school year. The first teacher was T. A. Stiger, of Everett. Several years later, Stiger commented that the school started with 12 pupils and was one of the best ventilated school buildings in the country. Stiger called the wild animals their friends and added, “The little squirrels, the red squirrels and the chipmunks came and cocked their little shiny eyes and looked in through the cracks at us inside.”

When their early school years ended, the Hunter brothers attended high school in Seattle and Edmonds. All four Hunter brothers went on to graduate from college.

With more people arriving in the rural countryside each year, a larger school was needed, and the small Hunter School closed in 1904. Named Maple Leaf School, the new school opened in fall of 1904. The building was in a clearing next to what would later be known as the Alderwood/Edmonds Road or North Trunk Road West. In our time, it has been widened and paved and is now State Highway 524, also known as 196th Street. The school’s location would have been between 52nd Avenue West and 48th Avenue West — east of Lynnwood’s Wilcox Park and west of the Fred Meyer store — very close to what is now K. C. Martin Automotive of Lynnwood.

The school building was 18 by 30 feet, with a rustic exterior and finished inside with shiplap and fir for the flooring. The school district provided the lumber and the hardware, but the clearing of the land and carpentry work was left to the parents.

A yellow maple leaf

During one of his interviews, Hunter related an interesting account of the naming of the school:

“In those days, people with smallpox were segregated in a county pest house built someplace clear away from all settlements. When this building started going up, the rumor went around that the county was putting up a pest house, and there was a good bit of uneasiness about it.” Hunter continued, “It turned out it was to be a school, but the carpenter who put up the building thought he would make one last joke out of it. He wanted something yellow to put on the school — yellow was the sign of a pest house — so he found a great big yellow maple leaf, and tacked it over the door. When the teacher, Belle Abbott, asked the first class of kids to vote on a name for the school, they decided on Maple Leaf School!” It became the name the school district used during the school’s lifetime — 14 years.

Through the years, Maple Leaf School had a succession of teachers after Abbot. There was Elverton Sweet and also A.K. Anderson, who taught for several years.

A favorite teacher in the district, one who began her early teaching career at Maple Leaf School, was Adrienne Caspers, who came from a well-known Edmonds family. Caspers’ career spanned more than 42 years in several local schools following Maple Leaf, including Seattle Heights, Esperance, Alderwood Manor and, finally, at the Edmonds schools. One of my own special memories is that I was privileged to have her as a teacher.

Other small south county rural schools that opened in the early part of the 20th century were: Esperance (first known as Hadley School), Upper Meadowdale and Lower Meadowdale, Cedar Valley, Seattle Heights, Jacklin and East Alderwood.

The eventual closure

Time and weather took its toll on the economically built Maple Leaf School building, and the board was seriously considering closing it as it got ready to open a new school on property owned by Puget Mill Company on North Trunk North (today’s 36th Avenue SW) at the hub of the new Alderwood Manor business district.

When the little white wood- planked school opened for the 1918-1919 school year, Ina Bettinger was named the teacher. The school would have a short life. Puget Mill Company soon replaced it with a much larger brick building in 1921. Eventually known as Alderwood Manor Grade School, this more modern school was part of the company’s plan in advertising the land for settlement.

Even though in May 1918 the school district had named new teachers for the fall opening — with Caspers appointed for Maple Leaf School at an annual salary of $800 — in September when the school year opened, Maple Leaf School had been abandoned. Caspers became the teacher for a new school at Seattle Heights. That school was near the tracks of the Seattle-Everett Interurban, just east of what would be Highway 99 and north of today’s 212th Street.

The Maple Leaf School building was sold to a private party and converted into a family dwelling. Dairy cows grazed on land leased from the school district.

The money derived from the sale of the former school building was used to fund the new Seattle Heights School.

The outlying small school build- ings were becoming obsolete, and the new larger brick Alderwood Manor Grade School filled the void. The school in the 3800 block of 196th Street operated for 41 years and closed in 1962. The building was used as the administrative office for School District No. 15 for a time and was razed in the 1990s.

Very soon, City Center, a large apartment complex, will open to take its place. A hotel is also being built on the land.