1910 - 1912: The Houses Are Built

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June 1910

I sighed. I was in fifth grade. My teacher Miss Larson was giving out math homework. I let my eyes stray out the window across the dirt field. I blinked again, but no, I had seen right the first time. Three new houses were being constructed. I mean, I had noticed people with maps and pencils walking around, but this was serious. Carts were pulling lumber up to the site. Men with picks were digging foundations and picking away at junk and debris. Another shock was that the map and pencil people were looking at two new sites. One house, 4435 Dawson, was brand new. It had been built the year before.

June 1911

I looked at my new teacher, Miss Peters. She was deep in conversation with the principal, Miss Hart. I was in sixth grade now, and there were four houses across the field. Normally when Miss Hart was around, we hardly dared to breathe, but today I risked a glance out the window. Two more houses were being built, and the map and pencil people were looking at one last site. Now there would be three houses on Dawson, and four on Bennett.

June 1912

I was looking at my spelling test. Now I was in seventh grade. The last house had been built. Its address: 4350 S. Bennett.

-- Tieran Sweeny-Bender


Evidence: 


1907: New building built for Hillman City School. The building is named after George F. Whitworth, former president of Washington Territorial University and Superintendent of Public Instruction, who died that year. Also in 1907, the Rainier Valley is officially annexed to the City of Seattle, and all its schools, including Whitworth, become part of Seattle School District #1. (Source: Seattle Public Schools Archives)

Emma C. Hart served as principal at Whitworth School from 1907 until 1937. A former student we interviewed told us Miss Hart was "short, nice, and strict." (Sources: SPS Archives, Bernice Sisson interview)

1909: 4435 S. Dawson built.
1910: 4427 S. Dawson, 4458 S. Bennett, 4344 S. Bennett built.
1911: 4425 S. Dawson, 4354 S. Bennett built.
1912: 4350 S. Bennett built.
(Source: King County Property Records, Puget Sound Regional Archives)

Foundations were dug by hand and with horse-drawn equipment as late as the 1920s.
(Source: Rainier Valley Historical Society photo)
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