Cooper Elementary has a long and interesting history. The following section (Frank B. Cooper School) is an excerpt from HISTORIES of the SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS published in 1951 by Seattle Public Schools. It documents the growth from a one-room community school in the early pioneer days of Seattle and the evolution to the vibrant community school of today. While the original Cooper building is no longer used, the neighborhood pride and pioneering spirit described here lives on.

     The very earliest beginnings of our community began in the forest primeval and with the logging industry. We are told that in the early days all of this community was a dense forest, Some of the largest trees in the state. were in this forested region that extended from the Duwamish, over the hills to the Sound. Deer, bears, and other wild animals were numerous.

     Mrs. Angelo has given us many interesting facts about the early days of our neighborhood and school. As a little girl she came to live in this community with her parents in 1885. She must have been a very wide­awake little girl for she has remembered many interesting facts concerning her girlhood and pioneer days.

     Mrs. Angelo told how a saw mill was built just over the hill from our school and this mill eventually cleared the district of the trees, getting some of the finest timber in the state. Mrs. Angelo recalls how the logs were cut and then went down a chute to the water, How as the tree was about to fall the loggers would call, "timber", to warn the children of the falling tree. Can you not see with what interest the children would gather to watch this exciting and interesting work! The logs cut below the hill were hauled out by oxen. How long ago this seems to us now for we never see oxen.

     Mr. John Reed, who came to Seattle in 1886, had much influence in the early days of the community. He and two uncles, Abe Manning and Roscoe Boynton, and a Mr. White bought property in this beautifully wooded cove and after clearing the land divided it into lots for sale. It was called the Humphry Settlement.

     At this time there were few children in the neighborhood, but what few there were must be provided with schooling So, a Mr. Audett drove a wagon with these children everyday over the steep, rough wooded road to West Seattle School, now called Lafayette.

     The men who started this community had visions of the cove becoming a fairyland of white houses and flower gardens and Mr. Boynton decided to build his home here. The logs had to be sawed into lumber at Yesler's Lumber Yard, at Third and Yesler then brought back on scows at high tide. Mrs. Angelo recalls three ropes that dangled from the limbs of a fruit tree in the Yesler yard where indignant citizens had hung three outlaws.

     As they crossed the bay in a row boat, she tells how fascinated the children were by a small hill of sand on which lived some Indians in curious homes, part wigwam and part boards, surrounded by dogs and children. This spot of land was properly named Ballast Island because it was just that, sand dumped there by ships which carried the sand for ballast until they could dump it there and load up with lumber.

     During the time Mr. Roscoe Boynton was having his house built a lot boom was on in this district, this was about 1903­1904, and many families moved into the community. This may have been brought about by a rumor of a steel mill coming. Among these families, who lived in tents until their houses were built, were Hannah Caldwell; the Barnecuts with three children of school age, the Hendersons with a daughter Mary; the Reynolds, grandmother of Dick and Kitty Longfellow; the Audetts; Boyntons with a child, Lucy; and the Dahls with Donna.

     In March 1905, the little steel mill moved in. It was very small. The Heinzingers and Mrs. Sauriel came with the mill. The mill had moved here from Lake City, north of Seattle, and brought many families from that section with them, The mill site was where the present site is but was very different then. This region was all tide­flats and water came way up to where Andover Street now is. The mill company erected small houses for their workers down near the mill. Roads were over pilings and mud was the chief landscaping. A school was first begun in a very small building on the tide­flats where Longfellow's office now stands in the mill yards. More folks were moving into the district. The morning that school opened must have been a very difficult day for the new teacher.

     Miss Edna Audett, now Mrs. James Murphy, was one of the two first teachers in this first school. Mrs. Murphy told first hand some very interesting incidents. The little one­room school had it's first opening day. A Miss Martha Anderson had been hired. 0f course this district was not yet a part of Seattle so the school was a county school, under the direction of a county superintendent. To Miss Anderson's consternation, seventy pupils showed up, children of all ages. Most of these were children of the mill families and many were lacking in any city culture, The boys all came barefooted and continued to do so most of the year.

     Miss Anderson appealed to the County superintendent who came out at once to help solve her problem, for no teacher could have seventy pupils in a little tiny room. When he came he agreed that something must be done, but what? Teachers were scarce and hard to get. On his way home he stopped at friends in West Seattle, the Audett's. The superintendent was telling Mrs. Audett his problem. The difficulty was soon solved, Mrs. Audett remarked, "Why not ask our Edna?" The superintendent was much surprised, and remarked, "Edna?" "Yes", replied Mrs. Audett, "Edna graduated last June, took the teachers' examinations, passed and has her teacher's certificate," The superintendent asked, "Where is Edna?" Mrs. Audett pointed out the window where her daughter of eighteen years was playing a lively game of ball with the neighborhood children. The result was that Edna came in, put on her longest shirt, put up her hair and was on her way to teach her first school down at the steel mill. She made her rough journey every day by horseback. The school was now a little two­roomed building for they had to add a small room where Miss Audett had about thirty of the younger pupils. Miss Audett's salary was forty dollars a month.

     Thus the "Youngstown" School was established. There were no streets past the school and only paths through the clearings. Directly across from the school was dense woods. A lady who went to this little school told us that the pupils were warned not to play beyond a few feet from the school because of the danger from wild animals and that parents of the smaller children would come at night to walk home with their children. This first little school was made up mostly of children whose parents had come to work in the mill. This was the year 1906­1907. The old hand bell that used to ring the school to time is still in our building and greatly treasured.

     The following year saw the district included in Seattle and of course under the Seattle School District, A new frame building was erected at the site of the little one­room school. The School Board paid $1,500 for the land, The building cost $5,500 and was 200 feet by 200 and contained five rooms. The total value of the property was $7,000. The school was named Youngstown.

     The Youngstown School community Continued to grow. The steel mill became a growing concern where many men were employed. Also other industries began to open up in the near by community. The Fisher Flouring Mills Company, ship building concerns, foundries, all which offered inducement for families to move into the district. Soon more and better streets were made, and "Oh happy day", when sidewalks were put in, for until about 1924 or 1925 there were only loose plank boards that answered the name of sidewalks. These planks were loose and on wet, rainy days we were well mud­splashed before we could reach the school. There was no transportation from the Spokane Street elevated street car up to the school except a little "dickey" that ran from Spokane and Twenty­sixth as far as the Mercantile store. This was used mostly by the steel mill workers. But the teachers would try to time their schedule so as to get the little dinkey between Spokane and the Mercantile, otherwise they had about three­quarters of a mile to walk on the loose., narrow planks.

     In 1917 it was necessary to plan a new school, a bigger and better school. The site was joining the original one. The structure was to be brick, and there were eight rooms planned. This new building was anticipated with the greatest of pleasure for it was to be the last word in modern school planning. Besides the regular glass rooms the building provided a home economics department, a cafeteria, combined with an auditorium. There was going to be ample room for years to come, so it was thought, But before the building was completed the first World War was declared. Now people began moving into the district by the hundreds. The new school was over­crowded, the old school was also filled and many portables were erected.

     At last the war was ended, but still the Community continued to grow. New streets came, paved streets and sidewalks. A beautiful city playfield was developed directly across the street from the school and buses were near passing the school. The growth of the Community was steady, churches and community centers became important factors.

     Now another school was needed and in 1929 bonds were voted for school buildings and our school came in on this bond. Scarcely had the voting returns became known when great crews of unknowns were out to start work. The new building was to be joined to the original building. Mr. Naramore was the architect, and so skillfully did he plan the new building, which was much larger than the original, that when completed it was as one unit, and certainly a beautiful school.

     The work was begun in the late spring with assured promises that it would be ready for use in September. But when September came the situation looked pretty discouraging. Practically every room in the old part was more or less torn up and as for the new part, well it was awful! The rooms were not finished, piles of lumber, laths and other material filled the halls and classrooms, pounding and hammering went on constantly. Finally classes were distributed throughout all the old buildings and portables. But even then we moved into the new building long before it was completed, having workmen hammering and pounding as we tried to carry on the class work.

     But at last when everything was completed how perfectly lovely it was! The building was dedicated in November 1929 with a very fitting program. The speakers were Superintendent Worth McClure and members of the Seattle School Board.

     When the new school was completed a new name was desired. After much study by the school and the P.T.A. the name of Frank B. Cooper was chosen. Mr. Cooper was a former superintendent of the Public Schools. A name much honored and loved. We were proud to have our school honored by his name.

     This new building had six large classrooms, two large libraries, a science room, art room, music room, a fine new shop, and a beautiful gymnasium. Then there was a most lovely large auditorium and lunchroom combined. Also there were the new offices of the principal. We all felt much as a family would who had been living in a one or two room small house and then had moved into a ten roomed mansion. We had room to spare, as we thought. There was actually one room that was not used for a year or two.

     Then at last the old frame building and portables were torn down and the school grounds were improved and beautiful plantings were made along the front of the grounds. We had a school as lovely as any in the City and were we proud of.

     The class rooms hummed with activities of every kind. There were classes, besides the regular work, in music, shop, sewing and cooking, art, gymnasium, orchestra, library, dramatics, choruses and cafeteria work, All this work was progressing in fine shape when came the Second World War. History repeated itself. Again our community grew rapidly and our enrollment increased so greatly that soon every class room was fairly pushing the walls out for elbow room. Families came from every section of the United States and even from Alaska. ­ Such conditions bring many problems, as well as challenging goals. Some of these pupils came with fine backgrounds, of culture and the best of home environment, while others the condition was the opposite, but somehow, someway we managed from day to day the best we could, always in the subconscious mind fearful lest at any moment a bomb might be dropped upon us. We were very careful to follow to the letter all the instructions pertaining to alert drills, blackouts, etc. As we look back over those several years it seems more like a nightmare than an actuality. The war conditions made necessary another new building, now known as the Annex, It is apart from the main building, just north of it and has several class rooms. One large room is a Sight Saving class room, made and designed especially to accommodate pupils who have poor vision.

     A few of the many activities that pupils at our Cooper School have to participate in are shop, home economics, gymnasium, and the many field and out of door sports, choruses, orchestra, dramatics, lunchroom service, office assistants' and Junior Safety Patrols, and libraries. These many types of activities help greatly in developing the health and personalities of our boys and girls.

     With the present activities and more that are certain to come in the years ahead we assure the Cooper School of tomorrow a bright and wonderful future.