1940
FEBRUARY 1940
Caption: On a warm February day in 1940 a group of boys gathered in the playground behind Lowell school, 1210 No. Yakima Ave., to play an energetic game of leapfrog.
AUGUST 31, 1940
Teacher list for the 1940-41 school year.
1941
AUGUST 29, 1941
Teacher list for the 1941-42 school year.
1942
SEPTEMBER 4, 1942
The list of Lowell faculty for 1942-1943 school year is published.
1943
SEPTEMBER 3, 1943
The list of Lowell faculty for the 1943-1944 school year is published.
1944
MARCH 25, 1944
The Lowell PTA will buy an electric dishwasher and two steel tables for the school. This will greatly improve efficiency in the kitchen.
AUGUST 31, 1944
Teacher list for the 1944-45 school year.
1945
SEPTEMBER 1, 1945
Teacher list for the 1945-46 school year.
DECEMBER 15, 1945
The school board votes unanimously to begin repairs and maintenance of the city’s school buildings, although securing the funding for all of the needed projects may prove to be challenging.
One proposal for building changes was to eliminate the “Lowell and Whitman third story school auditoriums which were termed ‘the most serious fire hazards in those buildings.'”
1946
AUGUST 30, 1946
Teacher list for the 1946-47 school year.
1947
JULY 12, 1947
The school board was authorized to renovate one of the classrooms in the Lowell annex.
AUGUST 30, 1947
SEPTEMBER 13, 1947
Bids will be opened for the installation of flourescent [sic] lighting in several schools, including Lowell.
OCTOBER 31, 1947
Lowell school plans a “Hallowe’en Frolic” sponsored by the PTA.
DECEMBER 20, 1947
Lowell students march around the Christmas tree and raise money.
1948
FEBRUARY 11, 1948
Lowell is burglarized, but it appears nothing of value was taken.
MARCH 19, 1948
The Lowell Community club is formed in order to improve the Lowell school grounds.
Their first goal is to pave the playground with concrete.
MAY 5, 1948
The plan to pave the Lowell school grounds with asphalt proceeds.
MAY 15, 1948
The Lowell Community club makes plans for a rally to raise funds for the paving of the playground and field.
“The residents of the community are interested in the project not only from the standpoint of benefit to the children but also as a means of beautifying the grounds, the committee asserted.”
MAY 21, 1948
Rally plans are finalized.
MAY 29, 1948
The Lowell Community club raised $400 at the rally, and have raised $3,600 total for the paving project. The school board promised to pay for half of the $9000 project. The club continues their fundraising efforts.
JUNE 2, 1948
The Lowell Community club secures the rest of the funds.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1948
Teacher list for the 1948-49 school year.
1949
MARCH 12, 1949
Quizdown contestants from Lowell are featured in the paper.
MARCH 13, 1949
Lowell students win the second round of Quizdown.
MARCH 15, 1949
Lowell students prepare for round three of Quizdown.
MARCH 12, 1949
MARCH 14, 1949
Lowell and Madison students battle it out on Quizdown. The top school will win an FM-AM table model Westinghouse radio. The school in second place will win a Rand-McNally world atlas.
APRIL 14, 1949
Photo caption: Where Death Walked – Two spectators are shown above viewing the spot where Martin Klegman, 11, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Klegman, 508 No. 11th St., was killed by a falling brick at Lowell school during the Wednesday noon earthquake. Mel Woodke is shown standing in the doorway from which the Klegman boy ran from the building. Bob Anderle is standing with his back to the camera. – Photo by Richards.
A severe earthquake (some sources give 6.7 as the magnitude, others say 7.1) shook Tacoma. Afterward, 11-year-old student Marvin Klegman, a student safety officer was leading younger kids out of the building when bricks fell from the damaged building above. He pushed a younger boy out of the way, and the brick hit him instead, killing him instantly.
Caption: View of damage at Lowell School, unidentified people look at the site where 11 year old Marvin Klegman died.
Caption: On April 13, 1949, at 11:55 am, Tacoma was hit by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. Bob Anderle (far right) looks down at the broken gable and the facing bricks that fell from one of the dormer windows at Lowell School during the quake killing eleven-year-old Marvin Klegman. Mel Woodke is standing in the doorway from which Marvin ran just as the bricks began to fall. In all, eight people in Washington died as a direct result of the earthquake.
April 1949 (Recollection)
Stan Farber, a former Lowell student recalls the earthquake as an adult, 30 years later in 1979.
APRIL 5, 1949
An article with details about what happened to Marvin Klegman.
APRIL 16, 1949
The school board makes preliminary decisions about what to do about the earthquake-damaged Lowell school building. For now, they decide that the third floor must be removed – meaning Lowell could possibly be closed for the rest of the year.
Lowell students will be divided between Grant and Bryant schools while the repairs are being made.
APRIL 18, 1949
A memorial service is held for Marvin Klegman.
APRIL 19, 1949
Free bus transportation is arranged to take Lowell students to attend school at Grant, Bryant, and Jason Lee.
APRIL 20, 1949
Bus transit is going well. Lowell will be closed for the remainder of the school year.
APRIL 22, 1949
School has resumed for all students except for Lowell’s kindergartners.
APRIL 23, 1949
The school board states that they would prefer a brand new Lowell building be built, rather than making repairs to the old one.
MAY 28, 1949
The school board moves forward with plans to replace the Lowell school.
“It was revealed that preliminary directions had been issued to the architects for the drawing of plans for a 10-room replacement for the earthquake-damaged Lowell school. The new Lowell school will also include one kindergarten room, a library, a combination lunchroom and auditorium, offices and an indoor play area in the basement. The board will soon decide, it was indicated, on whether the old building will be razed by the school system or by private contract.”
JUNE 25, 1949
School board secretary Carl G. Caddey reveals that the district has purchased the three homes adjoining the Lowell school grounds, and that they plan to sell one of the houses to the highest bidder, with the requirement that it is removed from the school grounds. The other two homes will be used as classrooms.
Plans are being drawn for a new building. They are also accepting bids for the demolition of the old building.
The students will continue to be bussed to other schools for the upcoming 1949-50 school year.
JULY 2, 1949
A contract for demolition is rewarded to the Lige Dickson Co.
AUGUST 11, 1949
Caption: Lowell School’s tower was demolished with a wrecking ball, the school bell would be removed and replaced into the new school building. View of Tacoma Athletic Commission board members at Lowell School building; this organization was offering support to the school district and community members. Lowell School was deemed unsafe after the April 1949 earthquake. The young man second from the left has been identified as Clay Huntington.
AUGUST 11, 1949
Caption: Tuesday afternoon Earl Keehn, foreman for Lige Dickson Co., which is wrecking Lowell school, removed the ancient bell, then tied a line from his crane to the base of the tower. Preliminary tugs took up the slack, then the tower roof collapsed and tumbled to the ground with a roar. As the tower fell, Keehn put his controls in neutral, jumped from the crane, and ran from the falling debris. “I’m taking no chances on loose bricks,” said he. The Lowell Parent-Teacher association hopes to have the old bell saved for the new building. – News Tribune staff photos by Paul Anderson and Lee Irwin.
1949
The tower of Lowell school comes down.
AUGUST 20, 1949
Lowell is mentioned.
SEPTEMBER 1, 1949
Caption: The Future, The Present, The Past – About all that remained of the old Lowell school on No. Yakima Ave. this week, except for memories and a pile of rubble, was the stone archway of the main entrance. The three children who stand under the arch in a scene distinctly remindful of the earthquake which made the building unfit for use are, left to right, Kathryn Robinson, 3, who won’t be ready for school before the new building is completed next year; her brother, Peter, 9, who will be one of many to be transported to other classrooms during the coming year, and Mike Clark, 13, of 922 No. Stadium way, who’s an “old grad” of Lowell – he’ll be in the ninth grade at Mason junior high school next week. – Copyright photo by Richards studio.
This year at Lowell, students in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade will attend classes in the two houses on Lowell’s campus. Third and fourth graders will go to Grant, fifth graders will go to Bryant, and sixth graders will go to Jason Lee.
SEPTEMBER 2, 1949
Teacher list for the 1949-50 school year.
SEPTEMBER 10, 1949
Bids for the construction of Lowell will be decided on in October.
OCTOBER 9, 1949
A reunion is planned for old Lowell graduates and alumni. Notable alumni are expected to attend.
OCTOBER 10, 1949
Caption: In this photograph from October of 1949, an unidentified student kneels next to the bell that had hung in the bell tower at Lowell School, 1210 No. Yakima Ave., until the school was severely damaged by the earthquake of April 13, 1949.
OCTOBER 11, 1949
The Lowell school bell will be at the reunion party.
OCTOBER 12, 1949
“The demolition of the old Lowell school does not mean there will not be another one to carry on the traditions on the same site. Plans for a new school on the same property are in the making. The year 1950 should see a new and bigger Lowell school started to serve the city as the old one did so faithfully for so many years.”
OCTOBER 17, 1949
The reunion is quite successful, with the News Tribune estimating there were nearly 100 guests. Students who attended Lowell in the 1890s (and one as as early as 1885) were there, as well as the daughters of former Principal Allen, who was principal of Lowell from 1890-1894.
OCTOBER 27, 1949
The Lowell PTA schedules a Hallowe’en festival at Washington school. Activities and entertainment will include dinner, black magic, costume contests, games, movies, concessions, and pumpkin carving.
NOVEMBER 12, 1949
Bidding for building contracts for the new Lowell school continues.
DECEMBER 10, 1949
The contract for the construction of the new Lowell school is awarded to the Bonnell Construction Co. for $254,941. The contract for electrical work was awarded to the Glassy Electric Co., which bid $13,600. A decision on bids for plumbing and heating was delayed.
The goal is for the building to be built in 286 days.
DECEMBER 26, 1949
The school district is apportioned $109,091 from the state superintendent of public instruction, Mrs. Pearl A Wanamaker, for use in the construction of Lowell.
The school district will be responsible for the remaining $352,470.
Construction is scheduled to begin immediately in the new year.
Lowell Elementary School History Project 