Holy Names Academy is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

private all-girls college-preparatory

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, founded by the

Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (Soeurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et de Marie) is a teaching religious institute founded at Longueuil, Québec, Canada, in 1843 by Blessed Mother Marie Rose Durocher for the Christian education of yo ...

in 1880 and located on the east slope of Seattle's

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

. It is the oldest continually operating school in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

state. Located in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle ''Formerly known as Diocese of Nesqually, 1850-1907.'' The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the U.S. state of ...

, the school is governed by an independent Board of Trustees, and is under the trusteeship of the Sisters of the Holy Names; a number of religious sisters are on the board or the faculty/staff. The school has been named a

Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

by the U.S. Department of Education four separate times, and has been multiple times ranked among "America's Most Challenging High Schools" in an annual survey by The Washington Post.

History

The school was officially founded on June 15, 1880 by the

. Holy Names Academy was founded before Washington officially became a state in 1889

Its first pupils were 21 day students, one boarding student, and one music student. Initially it was located in two rented houses at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Seneca Street in

downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

. In 1885 the academy moved to its first purpose-built home, a multi-story structure in the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

style crowned with a tall steeple. It was located on 7th Avenue near Jackson Street in what is now in the Chinatown/International District. An advertisement in Polk's ''Seattle City Directory'' from 1895 stated: "Thorough instruction is given in all the English branches, art, music, elocution and modern languages. Plain sewing and every variety of fancy needlework taught without extra charge, stenography and typewriting are among the elective studies." By 1904 planned regrading works on Jackson Street meant another move for the school to what would be their present home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1908. The building on 7th Avenue was demolished that same year. The architect of the new domed building, designed in the

Baroque Revival The Baroque Revival, also known as Neo-Baroque (or Second Empire architecture in France and Wilhelminism in Germany), was an architectural style of the late 19th century. The term is used to describe architecture and architectural sculptur ...

style, was Albert Breitung. Its design has been preserved over the years with few exterior changes. The adjacent Jeanne Marie McAteer Lee Gymnasium was built in 1990 on what was previously tennis courts. In 2017, the school opened the Mary Herche Pavilion, a 3-story structure that connects the original building and the gym, and features a student commons area, a fitness center for all students and faculty, an expanded cafeteria with outdoor seating, and other improvements. Holy Names Academy had originally incorporated a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

and

grade school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. A

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

was added in 1908. The normal school closed in 1930, the grade school in 1963, and the boarding school in 1967.Dorpat, Paul (14 January 2007)
"Grande Dame, Holy Names"
''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

''. Retrieved 19 September 2018.

Architecture

File:Holy Names Academy (Seattle), 1905.jpg, The school's first permanent building photographed in 1905 File:Holy Names Academy and Normal School, 21st Ave E and E Aloha St, Seattle (CURTIS 293).jpeg, The school's present building shortly after its completion in 1908 File:Seattle - Holy Names 05 - cropped.jpg, Statue of Mary with the child Jesus on the building's exterior

Notable alumnae

* Jan Haag (1951), founder of the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

Directing Workshop for Women The AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) is an innovative program in the American Film Institute (AFI) that has been offering free training workshops and the opportunity to direct short films that has helped to launch several successful careers. T ...

, textile artist, and poet *

Lynn Kessler Lynn E. Kessler (born February 26, 1941) is an American politician who served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 24th district from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the House Majo ...

(1958), Washington State legislator and House Majority Leader *

Kathleen Ross Kathleen Ross, SNJM, is founding president of Heritage University, which opened in 1982. A member of the religious order of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, she graduated from Fort Wright College with a B.A., from Georgetown Unive ...

SNJM (1959), founding President,

Heritage University Heritage University (formerly named Holy Names College and Fort Wright College) is a private university on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Toppenish, Washington. It offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. History Founded in 1907 by ...

* Mary C. Boys SNJM (1965), theologian, scholar, Dean of Academic Affairs at

Union Theological Seminary (New York City) Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (UTS) is a private ecumenical Christian liberal seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with neighboring Columbia University. Since 1928, the seminary has served as Columbia's co ...

Catherine LaCugna Catherine Mowry LaCugna (August 6, 1952 – May 3, 1997) was a feminist Catholic theologian and author of ''God For Us''. LaCugna's passion was to make the doctrine of the Trinity relevant to the everyday life of modern Christians. LaCugna earned ...

(1970), feminist Catholic theologian *

Katherine Zappone Katherine Zappone (; born 25 November 1953) is an American-Irish independent politician who served as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs from May 2016 to June 2020. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency from ...

(1972), Irish legislator and government minister * Kathleen McGinn (1976), economist and professor at Harvard Business School * Meagan Flynn (1985), Supreme Court Justice, State of Oregon * Venetria Patton (1986), Head of School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor of English and African-American Studies, Purdue University

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

Department of English
"Venetria K. Patton"
Retrieved 19 September 2018. *

Angela Rye Angela Rye (born October 26, 1979) is the Principal and CEO of IMPACT Strategies, a political advocacy firm formerly based in Washington, DC. She is a special correspondent on ESPN. She was (until November 2020) a liberal political commentator ...

(1998), political commentator and activist *

Lindsay Meyer Lindsay Meyer (born September 23, 1988) is an American rower. She was born in Seattle, Washington. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she placed fifth in quadruple sculls, together with Lia Pernell Lia Pernell (born Au ...

(2007), Olympic rowing athlete

References

External links

* {{authority control Schools in Seattle Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Educational institutions established in 1880 Catholic secondary schools in Washington (state) High schools within the Archdiocese of Seattle High schools in King County, Washington 1880 establishments in Washington Territory Girls' schools in Washington (state)