Stadium High School is a public high school located in the Stadium District near downtown Tacoma, Washington. A historic landmark, the original building opened as a school in 1906 after conversion of an uncompleted railway hotel project. The eponymous stadium was added in 1910 in the adjacent gulch.

Within the Tacoma Public Schools (No. 10) district, the school's attendance boundary includes Browns Point and Dash Point.

History

Opening

thumb|Stadium High School, 2014

The main building was constructed by architects Hewitt and Hewitt for the Northern Pacific Railway and the Tacoma Land Company at what was then known as Blackwell Point. Construction began in 1891 with the intention of building a luxury hotel in Châteauesque style. The Panic of 1893, however, brought construction to an abrupt halt when the Northern Pacific was faced with financial disaster. The unfinished building became a storage facility, with much of the building materials still inside. On October 11, 1898, the building was gutted by a massive fire. The walls remained standing, and the Northern Pacific began to dismantle the structure, removing some 40,000 of the unique Roman bricks manufactured by Gladding, McBean that would be used to construct train stations in Missoula, Montana (still in use) and Wallace, Idaho (now a museum).

The Tacoma School District purchased the gutted building on February 19, 1904, with the intent of turning it into a high school. The redesign and later renovations were planned by the school's architect, Frederick Heath. It was repaired and renovated into a school. Despite its extraordinary locale and design, on the inside it looks, feels, and operates like a typical American high school.

The reconstructed building opened on September 10, 1906, as Tacoma High School. After the 1913 opening of Lincoln High School, the second in the Tacoma School District, Tacoma High School's name was changed to reference the adjacent stadium.

Stadium

The stadium, also designed by Frederick Heath, dates from 1910 and is in a location once known as Old Woman's Gulch. It was originally much grander than it is today, with a seating capacity of 32,000. Among those who spoke there were Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, William Jennings Bryan, and Billy Sunday.

The stadium was originally built in 1909–1910 using steam shovels and sluicing to move more than down the edges of the gulch to create a flat playing field of . Wooden molds were built to cast concrete for 31 rows of stadium seating surrounding the playfield. During the renovation, students were temporarily relocated to the old site of Mount Tahoma High School in the south end, just over away.

The centennial celebration of Stadium High School was held on September 16, 2006. The celebration was attended by 3,299 alumni, setting a Guinness World Record for the largest recorded school reunion.

Filmography

Stadium High School was used as a filming location for the popular 1999 teen film 10 Things I Hate About You.

  • 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
  • I Love You to Death (1990)

Notable alumni

thumb|180px|Rabbi [[Angela Warnick Buchdahl]]

thumb|180px|[[Sugar Ray Seales]]

  • Bill Baarsma, 1960, Tacoma mayor
  • Sam Baker, former NFL Pro Bowl player; transferred after his junior year
  • Bruce Bennett (b. Herman Brix) 1924, Olympic shot-put medalist and Hollywood actor
  • Angela Warnick Buchdahl (born 1972), rabbi
  • Cathryn Damon, 1947, stage, TV and film actress
  • Josh Keyes, artist
  • Edward LaChapelle, avalanche researcher
  • Al Libke, former MLB player (Cincinnati Reds)
  • Cliff Marker, former NFL player
  • Vicci Martinez, acoustic-rock singer/songwriter
  • Marjie Millar (b. Marjie Miller), 1949, TV and movie actress
  • Albert Rosellini, 1927, attorney, civic leader, governor of Washington
  • Sugar Ray Seales, 1971, boxer, 1972 Olympic gold medalist and professional prizefighter