HistoryLink Tours

519 S Main Street

In 1902, the two-room Main Street Annex school building was opened as an extended facility to the Main Street School (formerly called South School from 1873-1889) that was located around the corner and facing South Main Street. The Annex was the location of Seattle’s first facility for teaching kindergarten children. The Main Street School and Annex proved to be too small for a growing population of grade school children, most of whom were from the CID and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.

With the construction of Bailey Gatzert elementary school to the east side of the CID, the Main Street School and Annex buildings were closed in December 1921 and the properties were sold at a public auction in May 1924 to Walter Thumler who subsequently sold the property to Henry Tengu Kubota. The Main Street School site was redeveloped as the H. T. Kubota Building, a two-story office building with at-grade commercial storefronts. At one time the building was the location of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). The Annex building remained and found other uses as the Japanese Congregational Church (1922-24) and later as the Golden Pheasant Café (1929-1960s). It is now used for professional offices and was designated a City of Seattle Historic Landmark in 1977 with historic easements in place to preserve the structure. The H.T. Kubota Building was awarded a Preserving Neighborhood Character Award by Historic Seattle in 2013.

Walk back east (toward Interstate 5) on S Main Street to the entrance of the Danny Woo Community Garden.