The Heart of Berkeley: The Historic McGee-Spaulding District

The first public school to be built in the District was the Bancroft Way School, a two­ story brick building with four classrooms, built on a lot on Bancroft Way between Grove St. (Martin Luther King Jr. Way) and McKinley Ave. in 1897. The architects were the Cunningham Bros, and the contractor was E.J. Squire. Miss Emelie Bergen was the first principal. The name of the school was soon changed to Longfellow and it was moved to the corner of California and Ward Streets in 1905.

A new school was built on the present site in 1906 and a Manual Training building was added in 1908. In 1910 it was made one of two intermediate schools in Berkeley and served both elementary and intermediate students until 1916, when it became an elementary school. In 1952 the school was demolished and a new school built on the site. Over the years additional property was purchased and temporary structures were added. In 1994 the main building was renovated and retrofitted and reopened in 1996.

In 1914 the school served around 360 kindergarten through fifth grade students who speak 21 different languages. The school’s philosophy is that “the Magnet/Nutrition/Ecology programs at the school are the foundation on which all other social and academic programs can be built.” In 2010 Washington was honored as a Blue Ribbon Award School under Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965, whose purpose was to provide equal access to education. Washington was thus one of only 230 schools out of 6000 schools in the state funded by Title I to receive the award.