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.