GRANITE FALLS — In 1929, the land now occupied by the new Granite Falls High School was a cornfield, recalls Harold Carlson, who graduated that year.
Shortly after graduating, Carlson — now 98 and living in Arlington — stole an ear of corn from the field. It wasn’t very good.
“I found out it was for cattle, not for people,” he said.
Today, he plans to be back there for a different reason: to be present for the grand opening ceremony for the new $43 million high school.
The 133,000-square-foot school at 1401 100th St. NE was built with $32 million in bonds approved by district taxpayers in 2005, and with $11 million from the state.
The school is a far cry from the brick building where Carlson and Edie McKnight, 86, from the Class of 1939, attended Granite Falls High School. McKnight, who now lives in Mill Creek, also plans to attend today’s ceremony.
Back then, the building wasn’t only a high school, it was a school, period — grades one through 12 were all combined there.
“The high school was upstairs and the grade school was downstairs,” said McKnight, whose original name was Engebretsen.
Carlson’s graduating class had 11 people in it, he said. He believes he’s the only one left.
In 1939, McKnight said, “I was one of 25 students.”
The school building then also was a little cheaper. The brick building, at the corner of Granite Avenue and Pioneer Street, was built in 1910 for $20,000, according to Fred Cruger of the Granite Falls Historical Society.
The site of the school is now occupied by a couple of medical-dental buildings.
In 1938, a new school was built at 205 N. Alder Ave. for $100,000, according to Cruger. McKnight attended her last year of high school in this building, and hers was the first class to graduate there, she said.
That building served as the high school until 1964, when another was built nearby.
Since then, the 1938 building has served as Granite Falls Middle School. It will eventually become an elementary school, and the other high school building will be used as the middle school.
The first school building in town was a large white wooden building built in 1893, Cruger said. The brick building was built on the same site.
“They moved it up the street with a team of horses and it became City Hall for the next 30 years,” Cruger said of the wooden building.
After McKnight graduated, she attended Seattle Pacific University and worked at Boeing for several years. She and her husband had one daughter and three grandchildren and lived in several locations around the Northwest before moving to Mill Creek.
When Carlson graduated, he worked in Chapell’s store for $40 a month, 60 hours a week, he said. He later served in the Pacific in the Army during World War II, according to his brother-in-law, Harry Yost, 86. Carlson was among the first American forces to enter Japan after the war, Yost said.
After the war, Carlson owned a gas station and worked for many years in a box factory in Renton. His wife passed away about a year ago, and he did not have children — “none yet,” he said.
Carlson has lived in Arlington for about 25 years and still cooks for himself and drives around town — “I drive to the grocery store,” he said.
Yost said Carlson doesn’t want to talk at the ceremony, but he’s glad to be going.
“He was really proud to get the invitation to come,” Yost said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Grand opening
The grand opening ceremony for the new Granite Falls High School is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at the high school, 1401 100th St. NE. Speakers, music, a flag presentation and visits from alumni are planned. The public is invited.
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