History of King County, Washington
By Clarence B. Bagley in 1929. Now in Public Domain
From Chapter 47: Issaquah, Pages 774-776
Issaquah: Schools
The story of Issaquah schools is typical of the development of many other social institutions of the Pacific Northwest: within the memory of those still living, the hardships and deficiencies of frontier days have been left behind and today the children enjoy the advantages of the most progressive rural communities. In the late '60s in Squak Valley school was needed for only the children of the Bush family. About 1867, J. W. Bush hired Thomas Silas Sloane to give his children instruction in elementary subjects. Sloane had settled on the Beatey place and held class in a little cabin on his own land. Bush bore the expense himself the first term, but the following year the bachelors of the community helped with the salary of the second teacher, one Barker, who succeeded Sloane. At first school was held for only three winter months. All five of the first pupils of this frontier school are still living: William R. Bush and his sister Emily, now Mrs. Cyrus Darst, reside on the family homestead in the Valley; Andrew Jackson Bush lives at Fall City; and Mattie Bush and her sister Samantha, Mrs. Paul Prue, live at Issaquah.
Several years passed before the community boasted a real schoolhouse. Class was held on the various farms, one term in the Bush hop-house, the next in the Wold hop-house, on the Jones place, and elsewhere, until in the course of time the settlers erected a modest building on the hillside of the Pickering farm. The name of the first teacher in the new school is not available hut R. Hopkins was an early schoolmaster. I. P. Rich was also an early one. The term was six weeks then. John Bush, William Wold, and John, Pete, and Mike Donlon were among the pupils.
Some years later a wooden school building was erected on the site of the present brick schoolhouse. The handsome structure which now houses Issaquah consolidated district No.205 was built in 1915, chiefly from the proceeds of a $30,000 bond issue. The old building still stands at the rear and is almost completely occupied. When the new schoolhouse was finished the Pickering and Issaquah town schools were consolidated, and four other districts were added subsequently, so that today the building houses all grades and the district high school as well. School directors during whose administration the building was erected were as follows:
H. C. Schultz, chairman; P. W. Knoernschild, clerk; Daniel Bosqui, J. W. Finney, W. J. Lewis, E. M. Day. Harry James was the architect and William Willis, the contractor.
The growth of the high school is indicated by the increase in the number of graduates since the first class received their diplomas in 1911. That year three girls were the only graduates: Mabel Ek, now Mrs. L. S. Brady of Seattle; Mary Gibson, now Mrs. Leonard Miles, and Olive Gibson, now Mrs. Bayh, both of whom still live at Issaquah. Maude Bradburn was the only member of the 1912 class and in 1913 there were but two graduates, Ruth Cubbon and Adelina Stefani. Minnie Wilson, now Mrs. J. H. Schomber, was the only person to receive a diploma in 1914, and Anna Hayward, now Anna H. McGuire, was graduated in 1915. Five students made up the 1916 class, four that of 1917, and the number has increased since, until in 1928 twenty-nine students received diplomas. The Issaquah High School was admitted to the list of fully accredited four year secondary schools in 1917.
Much of the District's development has been under the superintendence of George M. Clark, an educator with progressive ideas and great enthusiasm for his work, who took office in the fall of 1916. The present enrollment is 582, and the school serves a district twelve miles long. Many of the students come from points as distant as Preston and High Point. The District was one of the first to provide transportation for children who live at great distances and an excellent stage system has been established with six busses, all District owned. The first bus was operated in 1916. In 1928 a total of 276 children were carried and more than 31,000 miles were traversed by busses. Two of these vehicles cover about twenty miles morning and evening each day. One Ford car operated by the District traveled 6,876 miles in 1927. The District maintains its own repair shop.
The following constitute the present board: C. W. Peters, chairman; J.W. Gregory, P. W. Knoernschild; Mrs. Olive Bayh, clerk.
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By Clarence B. Bagley in 1929. Now in Public Domain