ca. 1891. The faculty and pupils of Washington College pose on the wide steps of their secondary school, located on Tacoma Avenue South at the present site of Central School, ca. 1891. Washington College opened as a boys school on September 2, 1886, with a $50,000 endowment by Charles B. Wright. It started with 65 pupils, half of them day students. According to a letter from John Kirtland, a former teacher at the school, the college was headed by a Mr. Pulford at the time of this photograph. Mr. Kirtland was not in this particular picture but he indicated the presence of other faculty: Mr. Dudley, Mr. Ayrault, and Mr. Reed. The school closed in 1892 as the Great Depression of 1892 caused many of the pupils to leave school to find work. Its endowment was then transferred to Annie Wright Seminary.

Washington College (Tacoma); Private schools--Tacoma;