Monroe Union High School

Until 1910, education in the Monroe area was provided by the Monroe School District and six other rural school districts surrounding the growing community. But all schooling in the area ended with the eighth grade, so students who wanted to continue on to high school had to go elsewhere. Some families moved to a community that had a high school, such as the Pearsalls who moved to Everett, while others arranged to board their children with family, friends or whomever. Snohomish was the nearest high school, but that was too far to go and still live at home in an era before free school bus transportation.

Talk of creating a high school in the Monroe area reached a new level in 1905 when eight students from the Monroe School District graduated from eighth grade, but it took four more years before talk translated into action. In June 1909 a community mass meeting set the stage for the creation of Monroe Union High School, and by the end of August the County Superintendent of Schools had ordered a special election in all the Monroe-area school districts for Sept. 18. At that election, the districts of Monroe, Tualco, Stocker's Mill (west of Monroe), Septhensville (Wagner area), and Roosevlt (northwest of Monroe) voted to approve the new high school district. The results of the election in the Fern Bluff District (east of Monroe) were declared invalid but a subsequent election approved the high school levy overwhelmingly. Mount Forest was the only district to reject it by a vote of thirteen to eight. The Mount Forest district was south of Monroe on the King County line with most of the homes across the Snoqualmie River so that students from Mount Forest would have to travel the furtherest to reach the new high school, which may have affected the vote.

The new high school district was quickly organized at the end of September with C.F. Elwell of Monroe as president, F.M Hayes from Stephensville as clerk, and E.M. Stephens of Tualco, Alice Tester from Stocker's Mill, and L.H. Jones from Roosevelt as directors. A special school bond election was set for Feb. 5, 1910. Voters selected the Dennis property on the southeast corner of Hill and Kelsey Streets for the new high school (now the site of Monroe Middle School), which was purchased for $6,000 and cleared for $600, both with tax money already in hand. In addition, voters approved a $60,000 bond issue for the construction of the new high school. Bids for the construction of three-story, brick and masonary building were called for on March 4, and the bid was awarded in late May to Garthy and Williams of Everett for $42,467 exclusive of furnishings. In addition to classrooms, the building included a 40x70-foot gymnasium and assembly room of the same size in a wing off the back.

Construction began that summer and an elaborate cornerstone laying ceremony, was held on Sept. 13. However, the new union high school district did not wait for the completion of the new school to begin classes. In August 1910, the Board of Directors hired H.C. Tooker as the new principal along with J.G. Wedel and Miss Crueger. Classes began that fall on the second floor of the Austin Building on south Lewis Street with the first class of six graduating in June 1911 before the new high school was completed. Monroe Union High School was dedicated on Sept. 1, 1911, with classes beginning on Sept. 5. Over the years a three-story gymnasium annex was added to the east side and other annexes were built around the original building, which was demolished in the summer of 1965 after the April 1965 earthquake damaged it.