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Lincoln High School (Seattle, Washington)

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Coordinates: 47°39′36″N 122°20′23″W / 47.6600°N 122.3397°W / 47.6600; -122.3397
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Not to be confused with Lincoln High School (Tacoma, Washington).
Lincoln High School
Historic entry in 2019
Address
Map
4400 Interlake Avenue N

Seattle
,
Washington
98103

United States
Coordinates47°39′36″N 122°20′23″W / 47.6600°N 122.3397°W / 47.6600; -122.3397
Information
TypePublic
MottoLearn with passion. Act with courage. Improve the world.
Established1907[1],117 years ago
StatusOpen
Closed1981 (Reopened 2019)
School districtSeattle Public Schools
PrincipalCorey Eichner
Grades9–12
Enrollment1779[2] (2024-2025)
2,800 at peak (1950s)
Campus size6.72 acres
Color(s)Red & Black
   
MascotLynx[1]
RivalsBallard High School
NewspaperLincoln Log and LynxFeed
Formerly The Lincoln Totem
YearbookThe Totem
Websitehttps://lincolnhs.seattleschools.org/

Lincoln High School (shortened to Lincoln High, Lincoln, or L.H.S.) is a public high school in Seattle, Washington, part of the Seattle Public Schools district and named after Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. It is Seattle Public School's oldest operating high school.[3]

The school was re-opened as a comprehensive high school in the fall of 2019 after being closed in 1981 and being comprehensively renovated in 2017-2019. The school re-opened with grades 9-10 but has now reached the full capacity of four grades. During the years when the high school was not operating, the school buildings were used to house public schools "in exile" while their own buildings underwent major renovations and as the North Seattle site for Cascadia Elementary, a selective public school, which has since relocated.

History

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The school was built in 1906 in the Wallingford neighborhood to handle the growth in the area.[4] It opened in 1907 and until 1971 was a three-year senior high school (grades 10-11-12, or sophomores/juniors/seniors), thereafter a four-year high school with grades 9 to 12. Lincoln High closed as a school in its own right after 74 years in 1981, and the building has been used several times since as a temporary holding location for other Seattle public schools as their own buildings underwent renovations / remodelings / rebuildings.[1][5] The Lincoln building housed Ballard High School in 1997–1999 while their current facility was being built, then the Latona Elementary School (1999–2000).[1] It next housed Roosevelt High School in 2004–2006 and Garfield High School in 2006–2008 while their respective buildings were being renovated and upgraded. September 2009 to June 2010, Lincoln was the home to the Hamilton International Middle School while the Hamilton building was renovated and housed the recently split APP North middle school cohort for one year with Hamilton in 2009-2010.[citation needed] The old Lincoln High building then underwent its own renovations and became an Attendance Area / zoned neighborhood comprehensive public high school once again in 2019.

Like many Seattle schools, Lincoln was impacted by the Japanese American internment during World War II. Among those interned were the president of the boys' Lynx Club and girls' Triple L and the editor of the school newspaper, the Totem.[1]

After the war, Edison Technical School (later Seattle Central College) on Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood expanded and took over the facilities of Broadway High School, mainly to serve returning veterans. Broadway's regular high school student body were all transferred to Lincoln High.[6] For some years after the war, Lincoln also served the city of Shoreline, until that suburb built its own public high school. In 1948, during the national "Red Scare" controversy, the school was receiving letters warning of communists within the teaching staff.[4] In 1949, during a tuberculosis outbreak, Lincoln sent teachers to Firland Sanatorium, and patients earned Lincoln diplomas.[1]

Lincoln High School was closed in 1981 due to declining enrollment. At the time the decision was made to shutter Lincoln, the Totem newspaper had been rated All-American status by the National Scholastic Press Association seven semesters in a row, and it had a notable arts magnet program and an excellent special education program.[1]

In the years after its closure, the Lincoln High building was used by various community and religious organizations, including the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club. In 1988, the derelict building was used as the filming location for the dystopian 1990 science fiction action movie Class of 1999.[7] A 1993 plan would have renovated Lincoln as a new home for Hamilton Middle School, also setting aside part of the building for community services. Instead, it became an interim location for various other schools over the next few decades.[1]

Facilities

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North facade with Library windows in 2007
North facade with Library windows in 2007

Lincoln High School comprises five main buildings on a single campus. The three western buildings (1907/1914-1920/1930), are co-joined and form a cohesive historic presence facing Interlake Avenue North. The two eastern buildings are stand-alone structures constructed in the late 1950s and opened in 1959.

Between 1914 and 1920, the north wing and several other minor additions were added by Stephen’s architectural successor, Edgar Blair. The 1930 south wing was added by Stephen’s successor, Floyd A. Naramore.

The school’s property for its campus was also enlarged in 1957 to cover 6.72 acres. Since then the playfield has been replaced by a paved parking area.[8][9][10][11]

A bronze bust of a young Abraham Lincoln, sculpted in 1964 by Avard Fairbanks, stood on the east side of the school[1] until its relocation into a new entryway in 2019.

The 2017-2019 renovation to the historic buildings included relocating the main entry away from the historic entry, restoring the historic library, creating a new two-story central commons space, and upgrading the structure, mechanical and electrical systems, and providing new energy-efficient windows and exterior walls.[12][13]

Athletics

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Lincoln competes in WIAA Class 4A and is a member of the Metro League in District Two. As of the fall of 2024, Lincoln was the largest Seattle High School (by enrollment) and was the only 4A school in the Metro League.[14]

State championships[15]

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  • Baseball: 2023
  • Boys basketball: 1945, 1956, 1957
  • Boys soccer: 2023

Notable alumni

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Further reading

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  • Thompson, Nile; Marr, Carolyn J. (2002). "Lincoln High School". Building for Learning: Seattle Public School Histories, 1862-2000. Seattle Public Schools. OCLC 54019052. Republished online by HistoryLink by permission of the Seattle Public School District: "Seattle Public Schools, 1862-2000: Lincoln High School", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink, 2013-09-08

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thompson & Marr 2002
  2. ^ https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/P223_Oct24.pdf
  3. ^ https://www.historylink.org/File/10546
  4. ^ a b Seattle's women teachers of the interwar years, Doris Hinson Pieroth, p 15, 2004, ISBN 0-295-98445-7, accessed May 2009
  5. ^ Clark Humphrey, Vanishing Seattle, Arcadia Publishing, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7385-4869-2. p. 74.
  6. ^ Paul Dorpat, Broadway High School, Seattle's first dedicated high school, opens in 1902, HistoryLink, 2001-04-15. Accessed 2009-05-25.
  7. ^ "Class of 1999 (1990) - IMDb". IMDb.
  8. ^ James Stephen, Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2016-03-20
  9. ^ Seattle Public Schools, Lincoln, Abraham, High School, PCAD Library. Retrieved 2016-03-20
  10. ^ Edgar Blair (Architect), PCAD Library. Retrieved 2016-03-20
  11. ^ Floyd Archibald Naramore (Architect), PCAD Library. Retrieved 2016-03-20
  12. ^ Seattle's renovated Lincohn HS reopening for first time in 4 decades, KIRO7, September 3, 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-26
  13. ^ Seattle’s Lincoln High to reopen 38 years after closing, Seattle DJC, August 24, 2017. Retrieved 2019-10-26
  14. ^ https://www.metroleaguewa.org/standings/
  15. ^ Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association. Tournament History: Championship Information.
  16. ^ Paula Becker, Carlson, Edward "Eddie" E. (1911-1990), HistoryLink, 2005-01-05. Accessed 2009-05-25.
  17. ^ Rietmulder, Michael (2020-08-07). "Seattle's Lady A confronts white privilege in battle with country stars and beyond". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  18. ^ Joe Veyera, "Mariners' 'Peanut Man' Had Shoreline Connection Rick Kaminski was a King's and Shoreline Community College Student," Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch, July 28, 2011.
  19. ^ Sheila Farr, John Franklin Koenig, prolific artist, dies at 83 Archived 2009-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, Seattle Times, 2008-01-04. Accessed 2009-05-25.
  20. ^ Mildred Andrews, MacDonald, Betty (1908-1958), 1994-11-04. Accessed 2009-05-25.
  21. ^ Dorothy M. Provine Day, Obituary, Seattle Times, May 2, 2010. Accessed 2015-10-23.
  22. ^ Frank Chesley, Stern, Bernice (1916-2007), HistoryLink, 2006-11-07, updated 2007-06-30. Accessed 2009-05-25.
  23. ^ "WOOLSEY, Lynn C. | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives".
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