When Dr. John James Smith died suddenly in November 1910, the town of Enumclaw immediately renamed its newest building, J.J. Smith Grammar and High School in honor of their most prominent citizen. The new school was built at the corner of Fell Street and Griffin Avenue on about 10 acres acquired through a complicated land swap. Before 1900, the site hosted a county fair where farmers showed their prized livestock and produce while ladies vied for blue ribbons with fancywork, canned fruits, and baked goods. It had belonged to the Fair Association which disbanded and gave the property to the City, which then traded with the school district for the one-block site where City Hall was constructed in 1922.
The 10 acres stretched north to Kibler Ave. The land supported stands of timber that Charlie Johnson logged and cleared with teams of mules. The logs were cut into 16-foot lengths on-site by a great band-saw. The new three-story brick building cost $125,000 and contained 19 classrooms and a splendid auditorium. All twelve grades occupied the school that was termed, “ultra-modern in all respects.” The High School was on the third floor with lower grades on the first and second floors. Enumclaw’s population was 1,129.
By the end of World War I in 1918, Enumclaw’s school-age population grew due to a series of consolidations with smaller districts. Also, new families were coming from war-torn Europe. A new brick high school was erected in 1921 at the former site of the Pioneer Cemetery on Porter Street between Hillcrest and Kibler Avenues. An addition was built in 1928 adding the Junior High, leaving the building in this image for grades 1 through 6. An elementary school was constructed south of Kibler Ave. on this same 10 acres in 1948. Then in 1954, Byron Kibler Elementary was erected on 12 acres on a different block of school land north of Kibler Ave.
The old brick J.J. Smith School was torn down in 1957 and a new one-story school building took its place bearing the same school name. Mrs. Selma Hanson Smith, the elderly widow of Dr. J.J. Smith presided during the laying of the new cornerstone. This image #1983.10.3054.2 looking northwest from the intersection of Myrtle Ave. and Fell Street comes courtesy of the University of Washington library, MOHAI, PEMCO Webster & Stevens Collection.
