| Lincoln High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 4400 Interlake Ave N | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1907[1] |
| Enrollment | 2,800 at peak (1950s)[1] |
| Color(s) | Crimson and black[1] |
| Mascot | Lynx[1] |
Lincoln High School is a former public high school in the Seattle Public Schools district of Seattle, Washington, USA.[1]
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The school was built in 1906 to handle the growth in the area.[2] It was founded in 1907; until 1971 it was a three-year high school, thereafter a four-year high school. Closed down as a school in its own right in 1981, the building has been used several times since as a temporary location for other Seattle schools as their own buildings underwent restoration.[1][3] The Lincoln building housed Ballard High School in 1997–1999 while their current facility was being built, then the Latona Elementary School (1999–2000) and Bryant Elementary School (2000–2001) while their respective buildings were renovated.[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. Since September 2009, Lincoln has been home to the Hamilton International Middle School, which will remain there through the 2009–10 school year while the Hamilton building is renovated.
The original 1907 building was designed by James Stephen, with later additions by Edgar Blair (1914) and Floyd Naramore (1930),[1] and an auditorium and gymnasium by Naramore's firm Naramore, Bain, Brady & Johanson (1959).[1][4] A bronze bust of a young Abe Lincoln, sculpted in 1964 by Avard Fairbanks, stands on the east side of the school.[1]
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 Community College) on Seattle's Capitol Hill 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.[5] For some years after the war, Lincoln also served Seattle's northern neighbor Shoreline, until that suburb built its own high school. In 1948, the school was receiving letters warning of communists within the teaching staff.[2] In 1949, during a tuberculosis outbreak, Lincoln sent teachers to Firland Sanatorium, and patients earned Lincoln diplomas.[1]
The 1950s were Lincoln's heyday. In 1959–60, enrolment reached 2,800, the city's largest at that time. Under principal Homer M. Davis (served 1954–1969), a former teacher and coach, the school was a major power in sports, especially basketball and baseball.[1]
In 1953 Warren Littlejohn joined Lincoln's faculty, becoming the first African American to teach in a Seattle public high school.[6] In 1973, Roberta Byrd Barr became Lincoln's principal, making her both the first woman principal and the first African American principal of a Seattle public high school.[7][8][9]
During this period "busing" was introduced and some saw the decline in numbers due to residents moving or deciding to send their children to private schools.[10]
Despite its enormous attendance less than a generation earlier, Lincoln was closed in 1981 due to declining enrollment. The school remained a strong one until the end, though. At the time the decision was made to shutter Lincoln, the Totem newspaper had been rated All-American 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 building was used by various community and religious organizations, including the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club. 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 has become an interim location for other schools.[1]