Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
A-853
Date(s)
- 1925-09 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Morton M. McCarver Intermediate School as it appeared in September of 1925 prior to opening. Tacoma's third intermediate school was ready for occupancy on Nov. 2nd. It was designed to house 1,000 students, although the initial enrollment was only 600. It served the graduating students of Irving, Lincoln and Longfellow Elementary Schools. It was part of the plan to arrange Tacoma Public Schools in a 6-3-3 year ratio, representing years in elementary, junior and high schools. The school had 34 classrooms, a large library, two gymnasiums, a spacious auditorium and the largest cafeteria in the school system. Elementary classes were added in 1938 when Lincoln School closed and its students and staff were moved to McCarver. As minorities moved into Tacoma over the next 20 years and concentrated in the Central and Hilltop areas, the student population at McCarver became disproportionately African American despite the "open enrollment" effort to encourage minorities to attend other junior high schools. In 1968, the School Board discontinued junior high classes at McCarver to facilitate desegregation. ("For the record, a history of Tacoma Public Schools, 1869-1984" by Winnifred L. Olsen) (TNT 9/3/1925, pg. 17; TNT 10/29/25, pg. 1)
Public schools--Tacoma; McCarver Junior High School (Tacoma);