Schools, Colleges and Churches.
Tacoma has twenty-one public schools of the primary and grammar school grades and a high school. A magnificent building with accommodations for 1,200 pupils is being erected for the high school. The enrollment in the public schools for the year 1903-04 was 8,939 and the average daily attendance 7,066. The value of school property in the district is $988,040, while the total liabilities, including bond and warrant indebtedness amounted to $492,523.02 on June 30, 1904, with a cash balance on hand of $36,554.82.
Tacoma is the seat of Whitworth College, founded and conducted by the Presbyterian Church, which occupies a conspicuous location overlooking the Sound. The University of Puget Sound is under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The University occupies a fine new building at the West End. The Annie Wright Seminary is a boarding and day school for girls. It is liberally endowed and has a valuable property near Wright Park. The Pacific Lutheran Academy and Business College is at Parkland, a suburb at the south. Vachon College is at Burton, on Quartermaster Harbor. The Academy of the Visitation and St. Aquinas Academy are schools for girls under Roman Catholic auspices. There are also two business colleges, a training school for nurses in connection with the Fannie Paddock Hospital, and schools of music and art.
Tacoma has upwards of eighty church organizations, representing all the leading religious denominations. Tacoma is the see city of the Episcopal Jurisdiction of Olympia.