Lincoln High School is a historic high school located in the south central sector of Tacoma, Washington, adjacent to Lincoln Park. Part of Tacoma Public Schools, it was named for Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States. The school was founded in 1913 and built according to an architectural design by Frederick Heath. It celebrated its Centennial Jubilee in 2014.HistoryAfter a favorable bond vote by the people on September 2, 1911, the school board of Tacoma Public Schools chose the present site for a new high school. Originally called Lincoln Park High School, it adjoined city park property that was turned over to the school board without charge. The cost of the ground, nearly ten acres, was less than $424,000; the building, $438,000. With equipment, the total investment was about half a million dollars.On Labor Day, September 1, 1913, the cornerstone was laid; by September 1914, classes began. In the spring of 1915, 98 students were graduated. Enrollment gradually increased, until in 1938 there were about 3,100 students, 709 graduating. When the auditorium could no longer accommodate the graduation exercises, they were held in the Helig Theater (now the Temple) from 1929 to 1932, graduation was moved to the Armory, and then to the University of Puget Sound Field house, and finally to the Tacoma Dome.ArchitectureFrederick Heath, the architect behind Lincoln High School, Stadium High School, and other noteworthy buildings in Tacoma, sent his partner George Gove around the U.S. to study other schools before designing Lincoln. They wanted it to be state of the art. Style was also considered vital. The architectural inspiration was that of the Eton School in England. The school was built primarily in a Collegiate Gothic style, meant to show a school building that would inspire and last. Carved in Wilkeson sandstone above the doorways were inspirational words such as courage, reverence, grace and "Labor Omnia Vincit" (Labor Conquers All Things).
