Stadium High School | Illustration
Stadium High School
111 N E St,
Tacoma, WA 98403
Stadium High School is without a doubt, one of the most iconic buildings in Tacoma. Not only is it a beautiful, but been visited by three different U.S. Presidents, and many other notable figures including Babe Ruth, and Louis Armstrong. With all that provenance, no wonder it's a historic landmark.
Stadium High is yet another bi-product of the great railway race in the early 1900s. Tacoma was known at the time as the “City of Destiny” and picked by the Northern Pacific Railroad for its westernmost terminal location. The building was initially built in 1891 for the Railway Company with the idea of becoming a luxurious hotel, but financial strains and a massive fire halted construction for many years. Then in 1904, the Tacoma School District purchased the building and transformed it into a fully functioning high school. The first students entered its halls in September 1906, and except for a short time during renovations in the mid-2000s, it’s been teaching students ever since.
Although I never had the chance to attend Stadium High, I’ve been to the campus many times and it always feels like something out of a movie. It’s nothing like the cookie-cutter schools that are in most cities. Stadium has class, and it has the history to prove it. Every student that's graced its halls should be proud to be called alumni.