<p>In 1883, Mrs. C.A. Blaine opened the city's first kindergarten in the wood frame North School at Third Avenue and Pine Street. The older students moved to the new Denny School in 1884, leaving the kindergarten class downtown in the old North School.
This 1884 photo shows Mrs. Blaine and her kindergarten class outside the old North School building. Mrs. Blaine stands behind the boys and girls, in the rear. The only identified student is Edith G. Prosch (front row, right), daughter of newspaper publisher Thomas Prosch.</p>
<p>Prosch's book, <i>A Chronological History of Seattle from 1850 to 1897</i>, is the only known original source of the kindergarten teacher’s name as Mrs. C.A. Blaine. This book, written 18 years after the kindergarten was started, says she is from Boston, MA. The 1883 King County census lists three people with the last name Blaine: C.W., and D.E. and C.P. who were the Reverend and his wife, Catharine, who started the first school in Seattle. C.W. is a single woman, a teacher, and from Massachusetts. See <i>Census of the inhabitants in Seattle</i>, p. 12, 1883, King County Census, King County Territorial Auditor, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/A95B985F98166E9017519473043A7D06">https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/A95B985F98166E9017519473043A7D06</a>, [accessed May 4, 2018]."


Caption information sources:
Prosch, <i>A Chronological History of Seattle from 1850 to 1897</i>, pp. 57-58, 299; Bowden, Early schools of Washington territory, pp. 226-227.</p>
<ul><li>Subjects (LCTGM): Kindergartens; North School (Seattle, Wash."  School children; Schools</li>
<li>People: Prosch, Edith G.</li></ul>
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Theodore_Peiser" class="extiw" title="w:en:Theodore Peiser"><span title="American Photographer">Theodore E. Peiser</span></a>
</bdi>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/search">Museum of History and Industry</a>