THEN: Junior Safety Patrol volunteer Jimmy Hoffman, 8, points a warning finger at an approaching truck at the intersection of 32nd Avenue Southwest and West Holly Street near High Point Elementary School in October 1947. (Howard J. Valentyne Jr., Seattle Times, courtesy Bob Carney)NOW: “I like helping kids keep safe and preventing accidents,” says Welela Hagos, paid crossing guard for West Seattle (formerly High Point) Elementary School. A mother of three teens, she is shown guiding students across Southwest Holly Street at 32nd Avenue Southwest, site of the 1947 “Then” photos. (Clay Eals)
Published in The Seattle Times online on May 30, 2024
and in Pacific NW Magazine of the printed Times on June 2, 2024
Passion to protect children has fueled patrol program since 1922
By Clay Eals
They’re a rare sight today. But they once were ubiquitous, overseeing hundreds of intersections near schools across Seattle.
We’re talking about tens of thousands of trained students who navigated traffic dangers with bright “STOP” flags, shepherding their peers through hundreds of millions of street crossings before and after school. Their name: the Junior Safety Patrol.
THEN: Oct. 23, 1947, Seattle Times, p17.
The post was an undisputed source of pride. Listen to sentries interviewed by The Seattle Times in October 1947 at High Point (now West Seattle) Elementary School:
“The little kindergarteners don’t know much about crossing the street,” said Stephen Tuthill, 9. “I think it’s a good thing to have them protected.”
“If we can take care of ’em and serve right as they desire,” said Barbara Gralow, 8, “then we can be on the patrol and do it right.”
“I like this better than anything,” said Jimmy Hoffman, 8, “even football.”
These guards were younger than the more typical 10- to 13-year-olds citywide. They served a barracks-style neighborhood, since redeveloped, that had been built five years earlier to house World War II-era aircraft and shipyard workers. They also were following a pioneering tradition.
THEN: Sgt. George Kimball, who directed the city’s Junior Safety Patrol program for 33 years starting in 1928, trains new student patrol recruits at a Seattle school site in August 1931. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer collection, Museum of History & Industry)
In 1922, John Muir Elementary in Mount Baker launched the first student-centered safety patrol in the state. Six years later, aided by the Auto Club of Washington (AAA), Seattle expanded the program citywide. Police officer (later sergeant, then captain) George Kimball guided it until his death in 1961. In his honor, a Beacon Hill grade school was named for him in 1964.
THEN: Pins such as this one from the 1950s are still treasured by former Junior Safety Patrol guards. “SPD” stands for Seattle Police Department. (Courtesy Museum of History & Industry)
Initially dubbed “Schoolboy Patrol,” the program welcomed girls as early as 1929. It compiled an impressive safety record, broken only occasionally, as in 1949 at a patrolled West Seattle Junction intersection, where a car came “out of nowhere” and killed a 5-year-old girl.
Eventually, says Yvonne Carpenter, today’s school-district’s crossing-guard supervisor, the city ceded the program to the district, and only a handful of Seattle schools use young guards anymore.
Most guards these days are paid adults, often retirees, who work two hours each weekday — one in the morning and one in the afternoon — to protect key intersections. Carpenter’s cadre numbers just 50, down from a desired 120, COVID having taken a toll.
“We are desperate for crossing guards,” she says. “I love my guards. Some have done it for 25 years. Every time they step into the street, they put their lives into their hands. They protect any pedestrians who cross, not just students, and they take it very seriously.”
As Seattle’s guards wind up another school-year’s work, Carpenter salutes what she calls their driving force: “You gotta love kids.”
NOW: On a recent afternoon, Welela Hagos waits for students (often accompanied by parents) to walk down the paved path from West Seattle Elementary School to cross the intersection she patrols at 32nd and Holly. Since 2004, the surrounding planned neighborhood features a mix of market-rate and low-income housing. (Clay Eals)
WEB EXTRAS
Thanks to Bob Carney, Welela Hagos and Meaghan Kahlo and Yvonne Carpenter of Seattle Public Schools for their invaluable help with this installment!
To see Clay Eals’ 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.
