Editor’s Note: This year, Yelm will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city’s official incorporation, which took place on Dec. 8, 1924. Every month this year, the Nisqually Valley News will present an aspect of the city’s history since its incorporation. The history of school and education within Yelm is this edition’s topic.
Yelm Community Schools currently serves the local community with six elementary schools, two middle schools one high school and an extension school, but did you know one of the area’s first recorded educational institutions began in the early 1860s?
According to “The Story of Yelm: The Little Town with the Big History, 1848-1948,” written by Richard and Floss Loutzenhiser with contributions from Len Longmire, Mrs. F.N. Edwards and Mrs. Jack Kettleman, there were “at least” 22 schools that had served the community at one point in time prior to the book’s publication.
According to the book, Yelm’s oldest school was originally private, and classes were offered in the Longmire log cabin, which at one point was referred to as the McLean Chambers’ cabin.
According to Longmire, Edwards and Kettleman’s recollection in Richard and Floss Loutzenhiser’s “The Story of Yelm,” James Longmire was once visiting Olympia and heard a man claim to be a teacher. This intrigued Longmire, as Yelm’s pioneer stated “then come and teach for me,” to the man.
“You can board at my house and all of your pupils will be Longmires,” James Longmire stated in “The Story of Yelm.” “My children went to school in Fountain County, Indiana, and while we were forted up in Olympia, but have had no schooling since.”
It wasn’t until the early 1860s that a public schoolhouse would finally be constructed. Located on Yelm Prairie, a log structure served as a place for area residents and youth to seek further education. The source states that “very few dates are available for this period,” however, J.C. Conine was recorded as teaching his first of four terms at the school in 1872.
Other teachers highlighted by the area’s “old-timers” in Richard and Floss Loutzenhiser’s “Story of Yelm” include, Lou Jackson (Longmire), Amelia Ditman of Olympia, Anne Broden, Miss Shelton (Van Trump), Seymour Stone, Mrs. Stoddard, Anna Hart, Mrs. M. Alberta Jackson, Clara McKenzie, Zouy Jackson, Lizzie Waddell and Fred Brown.
In 1876, the Des Chutes district school was built, and like the first school built on the Yelm Prairie, was a log cabin. The first teacher at the Des Chutes district school was Renny Pollard, followed by Ada Woodruff Anderson.
“The Story of Yelm” stated Woodruff Anderson, author of “Heart of the Red Firs,” was “the most famous ever to instruct the youth of this locality.” In addition to “Heart of the Red Firs,” Woodruff Anderson wrote other novels, including, “Rim of the Desert” and “Strain of White.”
Eventually, Des Chutes district school was divided into five schools: Laramie, Moorehead, Bald Hill, Longmire and Hull. Edith Corbett was Laramie’s first teacher, while Emma Chitman was Moorehead’s first educator. Ethel Ross served as Bald Hill’s first instructor, while Bertie Cooper was Longmire’s first teacher. Fred Grass was Hull’s first educator.
Other local schools prior to 1900 that were “to the north and east, but nearer to Yelm,” included: Smith Prairie, Lawrence Lake, Kandle, Eureka, Forest, Willow Lawn, Hewitt, Lieber and McKenna schools.
Schools west of Yelm prior to the turn of the century included Wells, Rathbun-Morgan and Lindstrom. At various points throughout the city’s history, the three schools were presided over by Mrs. Alberta Johnson, described as a “very superior woman.”
Mount View School was also recounted as being near the City of Rainier.
A new high school in Yelm was constructed in 1920, but not without opposition from residents in the district, according to “The Story of Yelm.” The school later burnt down in 1941 and was replaced in 1942.
The first 10 superintendents of Yelm School, incorporated in 1914, included Mr. Fleenor, Mr. Blounquist, Mr. Fletcher, Ernest Nichols, Fred J. Brown, J.R. Loutzenhiser, William Maxmuth, O.L. Montgomery, Thomas J. Davis and Marvin S. Stevens.
The first Yelm High School principals included Ora Harcourt Frisbie and Frank A. Bower, while S.B. Robertson, Robert Kindschy, Harry A. Southworth, and W.H. Thun served as the area’s initial grade school principals.
More than 100 years after Yelm’s first school was constructed, 10 different learning centers serve students within the district, which reaches into a portion of Pierce County, including: Fort Stevens Elementary, Lackamas Elementary, McKenna Elementary, Mill Pond Elementary, Prairie Elementary, Southworth Elementary, Yelm Middle School, Ridgeline Middle School, Yelm High School and Yelm Extension School.
