EVERETT, SEPT. 15: Scattered around North Middle School are unassuming work benches and tables. Few know the history behind them.
North teacher Susan Radford, who has been a teacher at North for 34 years, tells the fun fact to her students whenever she can.
The tables were made from the wood trusses in the old cafeteria, now acting as a tether to the past inside the state-of-the-art building that opened in 2019.
In 2016, Everett voters approved a $150 million bond, $50 million went to renovating the middle school completed in 2020.
“I just think about all the quirky things that I know, like the little pieces of information that I end up picking up over time. I share those little tidbits with kids, and kids are like, ‘Oh, I never noticed that’,” Radford said.
North Middle and its extensive history was put on display over the weekend as it celebrated 100 years in the community.
The celebration acted in part as a remembrance of history and in another as an open house for the community to view the renovated building, Principal Dr. Tyler Ream said.
“We really wanted to invite the community in and just say thank you,” Ream said.
Memorabilia including photos, yearbooks, books, jerseys and more were on display during the celebration on Saturday, Sept. 13.
When word got out about the celebration, people responded, offering up their own memories collected. Reams favorite story is of a 1947 track uniform a community member brought in on behalf of his wife’s grandfather.
The man joked that the family wanted the “fines wiped free,” Ream said.
More artifacts were found in a handful of boxes accumulated over the years, including deficiency reports from 1931 and tea sets used by the Parent Teacher Association.
In 1925, North Junior High School first opened its doors. The land on which it was built was a fairground, even hosting the 1920 National Championship High School football game, which Everett High won.
In 1970, the school was renamed George Washington Carver Middle School. It was rebuilt in the late 70s, making way for North Middle, which opened in 1980.
During its time, North has gone through three name changes and two mascots.
When asked what made Radford stay all these years, she said that North is her “second home.”
“North is really special, in so many different ways. It’s special, kind of a fixture in the community. The kids that I have, I had some of their parents as students. Maybe their grandparents went too, or the students I have, maybe their grandparents went to one of the older versions of North. People stay in this community,” Radford said.
