Several years ago, a friend of mine decided our Seattle neighborhood known as Magnolia needed its history documented in the form of a museum quality coffee-table book. She led the effort to develop a team of writers and editors to research and develop the content for ‘Book One’ which focused on pre-20th century history. I served as the content editor. It was well received, ‘Book Two’ followed with a focus on the 1920s-1940s (I peer-edited one piece but had no involvement beyond that), and by the time the decision was made to develop ‘Book Three’, I chose to get involved – with the goal of being part of the writers team, have a project outside of my regular work and earn a byline.
As the Magnolia Historical Essay Project III developed, one of the topics did not yet have an assigned writer, so I volunteered to write the chapter on Catharine Blaine Junior High School and Community Center – one of the first combined junior high school and community centers in the country. This was where I attended junior high in the mid-1970s and various events at the “rec center” as a child, and while the school is now a K-8, it seemed a natural fit to write about my old school .
I thought that my story would focus on the school’s namesake, the architect and the unique nature of the 1950s school and park collaboration – until I shared my project with a colleague and long-time Magnolia neighborhood resident over lunch one day. She responded with, “I remember when Ione Pedersen’s house was moved” and that opened up an entirely new area to explore. It was going to be an interesting journey!
While my initial research involved delving into the historic context of Seattle in the late 1940s and early 1950s, to include Northgate – the first shopping mall, Sea-Tac Airport, Seattle’s famous Viaduct, Dick’s Drive-In, I-5 and the Seattle Center for the World’s Fair, post-World War II architectural trends and learning more about the pioneer life of Catharine Blaine and the career of Architect J. Lister Holmes, my conversation with my colleague Carol changed my focus. Houses were moved! And not everyone was pleased with the evolving plan to combine the new school with a much-awaited recreational center.
What I learned as I went back to the 1920s was local desire for park and playground space had grown over the years, that post-WW II, the Baby Boom had hit Seattle so Magnolia was getting new school buildings – and these two tracks were destined to collide – hence the Cs: Controversy, Condemnation, Collaboration and Community Vision.
With assistance from other volunteers, I poured through Seattle Schools Archives & School Board meeting minutes, Magnolia Community Club Board meeting minutes, Seattle Park Board meeting minutes, the Municipal Archives, old copies of The Seattle Times, P-I, The Magnolia News (The media didn’t always get it right!) and other ephemera at the University of Washington archives.
It was truly stepping back in time – and I started to see my neighborhood through the eyes of what I perceived to be those in 1949 when the neighborhood activated and took sides on how it would grow into the second half of the 20th century.
“Magnolians Disagree on Four Important Point of School-Fieldhouse Consolidation Program” The Seattle Times Dec 11, 1949 was the finale of a year’s worth of the four Cs. I could imagine the meetings and presentations at the Magnolia Elementary School cafeteria, the soliciting of signatures at Magnolia Bowl, and some of the key Magnolians involved heading home after a day and evening of laboring for their contingent’s beliefs.
A serendipitous and significant milestone was when I discovered that friends lived in one of the houses that had been condemned and moved to make way for the joint school-community center building. And the box of paperwork that had been retrieved from the recycle bin (after my Mom who was a real estate broker had assisted in the home purchase from the original owners involved in the house relocation – it’s a small world!) was a treasure trove of interesting notes, receipts and official paperwork – all helped piece together what it must have been like to accept that one’s immediate neighborhood would be removed and that it could lead to a nicer house on a larger lot with a lot of planning and coordination to make it happen.
It was a true “Eureka!” when the project manager called to say she had found a photo of a house being moved in Magnolia – it wasn’t from the houses on 33rd Ave West making way for Blaine, but it was a clear depiction of Carol’s “I remember when Ione Pedersen’s house was moved” and we were ecstatic.
Other tidbits that I found especially interesting were the converging interests of the different City departments, the power of the Magnolia Community Club & personalities of those in charge, houses actually being moved instead of demolished and how different it would have been had the school and community center not been combined and where they might have thus been located. Imagine the school at the northern end of the ball fields across W. Barrett Street from the Our Lady of Fatima Church or where the Albertsons grocery store currently is – that would have completely changed the Magnolia we know today!
The editing process was the reality check every writer experiences – and so there was a lot of juggling, cutting and negotiation that resulted in what I am proud to have been a part of – and thus my own early teen memories of junior high school were enhanced with the decades of history that came before, and the Seattleites whose legacy we appreciate, amend and enjoy today.
About the Author
Whitney Mason is a Seattle AWC chapter past-president, and has served in several other AWC board positions, both locally and nationally. A Seattle native, she earned a BSJ & MSJ in journalism at Northwestern University, served in the U.S. Marine Corps in logistics and public affairs, earning a reserve retirement in 2014. After working in the animal welfare non-profit sector in Virginia and Colorado, Whitney returned to Seattle in 2003 and began her residential real estate career. She has been actively engaged with AWC as well as other local organizations. She was the content editor for a local history book “Magnolia: Milestones & Memories” and authored the chapter on her junior high school for the third book in this local history series “Magnolia: Midcentury Memories”.
