THEN and NOW: Central School and Festivities, Around 1905

Many Kirkland residents remember the last of three Central Schools built on the site of today’s at Fifth Avenue and First Street, which crumbled to the wrecking ball in 1969. But you’ve got to be plenty old to remember the one pictured here in the background, the second Central, built in 1904 and razed in 1935.

This shot is from a glass negative most likely taken by Mattie Schuster Marsh, who came to town an accomplished photographer in 1905. Loita Hawkinson, the hard-working president of the Kirkland Heritage Society, which keeps the photo in its archives, says Mattie’s photos can be found today on antique sites.

The photo was taken from the site of today’s along Waverly Way, and looks eastward to the school, across what was then a dirt or planked Market Street. Today vegetation obscures the site of the school and City Hall.

It is not known what festivities are shown, perhaps a Marsh family event -- but obviously they’re having a grand old time!

The photo was taken some time after 1905 when the Marsh family arrived here. The school -- elementary grades on the lower floors, high school grades above -- looks fairly pristine. So we’re guessing the shutter was opened on the scene before 1910.

The family apparently moved West from Nashville to escape tuberculosis, but Mattie succumbed to the devastating disease in 1916. Her son Louis went on to become a Boeing engineer. Beyond that we know little about the event or the photograph.

However, we do know that it shows a happy moment once upon a time in Kirkland, and so believe it’s worth sharing.