A Brief History of Pacific Prevocational School

Between 1893 and 1940, Pacific School was a relatively standard elementary school. Its hulking building stood at the corner of 11th and Jefferson. Because it was set into the hillside, one side was a two story building, the other a three story building. In 1912, a wing containing seven classrooms was added to its north side.

Pacific School, 1940. (Seattle Public Schools Archives)

In 1940, the Boys Prevocational program and the Girls' Prevocational program merged into a coeducational Prevocational program. These programs all had one thing in common--they were designed to prepare students with academic difficulties for employment in the outside world. 

In 1954, a new wing was added to Pacific, adding additional cafeteria space, a new teachers' lounge, and classrooms in the 1893 and 1912 buildings were refreshed with new ceilings, new paint, new cabinets, and new equipment.

The new wing onto Pacific School, 1954. The old building is in the background. (Seattle Public Schools Archives.)

Pacific School had a unique distinction in the Seattle School District-- it was the only school where students designed menus and prepared meals for the cafeteria and teachers lounges. 

The Home Economics classrooms in Pacific School received new appliances in 1954. (Seattle Public Schools Archives)

In 1966, a three-alarm arson fire, started in a first floor storeroom, spread up an air vent, destroying the roof and third floor of the school.

The origin of the fire. (MOHAI)

The fire bursts through the roof, September 21, 1966 (Seattle Times photo, Nick Bodemer collection.)

The fire caused the roof to collapse, along with several ceilings. (Seattle times photo, Nick Bodemer collection.)

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The burned section on the left is likely the air vent that the fire spread through. (MOHAI)

The north end of Pacific School, shorn of its gable, after the "temporary" repairs made after the fire, c. 1967 (Seattle Public Schools Archives.) Note the blackening of the brick, and the boarded up windows on the third floor. This is what the Pacific building looked like in the last nine years of use.

The south end of Pacific School after the "temporary" repairs made after the fire. Notice the remains of the cornice, the temporary metal roof, and the boarded up windows. This is how the Pacific Building looked as it served students after the fire. (Seattle Public Schools Archives).

As a result of the fire, the roof and third floor were destroyed. The remains of the roof were removed, and the third floor was blocked off, with the exception of the Girls' bathroom. On the south end of the building, fire doors to the burned third floor were simply locked. On the north end, a standard interior wall was built capping the stairwell. Due to the lack of an adequate replacement facility, the repaired building would remain in use for the next nine years.

Applications for permits for emergency repairs to Pacific School, 1966. (Courtesy of Seattle Public Schools Archives.)

Permit, 1966. Item 4 would be reversed in 1967. (Image courtesy of Seattle Public Schools Archives)

Additional repairs were made in 1967. These consisted of restoring the remaining classrooms in the north wing, and installing a new roof.

Permit for restoring four classrooms, 1967. (Image courtesy of the Seattle Public Schools Archives.)

Permit for a new flat roof on the school, using the remaining joists of the third floor, 1967. (Image courtesy of Seattle Public Schools Archives.)

In 1973, the Seattle-King County Health Department wrote to J. Loren Troxel, Superintendent of the Seattle School District, detailing the building's numerous deficiencies, ranging from a lack of bathrooms (one for boys, on the ground floor, and one for girls, in the one part of the third floor that was not abandoned), to the lack of an intercom system, to a lack of any form of communication system between the twenty portables and main building (about a block apart), to poorly maintained stairwells, inadequate handrails, a lack of special facilities for individuals who needed assistance using the restroom, just to name a few.

While meant to be temporary, the 1966 repairs were used for nine years, before the Mayor and Building Department were asked to inspect the building. As a result of months-long conversation between the Building Department, the Seattle School District, and Mayor Wes Uhlman, the Pacific School building was effectively condemned after December 31, 1975. (The conversation is available at this link: https://pacificschoolseattle.blogspot.com/2024/05/correspondence-between-building.html )

As a result of the effective condemnation of the Pacific School building, the Pacific program was moved to the recently vacated Washington Junior High School building, as an interim location until its new home at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School was ready in 1978.

The former Pacific site was sold to the US Postal Service, who planned to build a carrier annex on the site. After a lengthy appeal, the Postal Service sold it to Seattle University, who installed a new athletic field on the site.