From The Archives November 2025

 Once upon a time there was a preschool in the bowels of the club.  I know.  I lived it.  A little history.  The post WW2 period brought much development and young families to Seattle’s north end.  Actually, it wasn’t a city yet.  In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Seattle School District and later the community college system saw a need to develop “playgroups” which would offer parents and there preschoolers time to socialize, learn and bond in a classroom setting.  The catch was each parent would assist the teacher one day per week for the half-day program.  It included a parent education component as well.

Back to Haller Lake.  The parent cooperative model thrived in the basement of the Club between 1946 and 1973 and was instrumental in raising Club membership.  Thinking back, Club members were younger and had young children.  There was a true symbiotic relationship between the two.  In 1973 the Club decided not to renew the Haller Lake Co-op Pre-school and repurpose the downstairs.  Understand that the full length of kitchenette and board room was open and all preschool.  The rest of downstairs floor was used for large motor activities - tricycles and such.
My sibs and I all went through Haller Lake Co-op along with many friends.  Likely, the dagger was little or rent-free status while the Club was interested in money making rentals.  Later, CDC filled the bill quite neatly.
In a small corner of a 1973 Splashes you see a hand-scrawled gravestone with the inscription “RIP Preschool.”

Randy Harkness

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