MARYSVILLE — The sounds of children’s voices will echo once again in the halls of the old youth center.
The city of Marysville has bought the former 10th Street School between Cedar and Beach streets from the Marysville School District to help create a place for youth in the neighborhood, Mayor Dennis Kendall said.
The city will lease the building to the Boys &Girls Clubs of Snohomish County for $500 per month.
The city also bought the Rudy Wright Memorial Little League baseball diamond next to the school building. The total sale price was $1.7 million.
The building is on the site of the original Marysville High School, built in 1907. The current building on the site was built in 1958.
The Boys &Girls Clubs hope to offer athletic programs and part-time hours as soon as next week and by the beginning of May at the latest.
The Boys &Girls Clubs have 13 locations around the county, but none in Marysville, the third-largest city in Snohomish County.
“That’s a gap in our service area,” said Bill Tsoukalas, executive director for the Boys &Girls Clubs. The closest branches to Marysville are in Tulalip and Smokey Point.
The city has agreed to help the Boys &Girls Clubs raise money to eventually buy the building. It includes a gym, a couple of classrooms, an office and a kitchen in 12,852 square feet.
Kendall has been discussing the idea with Boys &Girls Clubs officials for a couple of years now. Kendall said when he took office more than five years ago, he noticed there was no gathering place for kids in the downtown area.
The neighborhood just northwest of downtown, where the school is located, is a lower-income part of the city, he said.
“A lot of those kids are latch-key kids and there’s really no place for them to go,” the mayor said.
The buildings and Little League field total 2.5 acres. The Boys &Girls Clubs will have access to the baseball diamond when it’s not being used by the Little League but the city will maintain ownership of the field, Kendall said.
“The field’s going to stay as a city park,” he said. “I coached baseball there and my kids played there. Anybody who’s played baseball in this city has played at Rudy Wright Field.”
In 1906, voters approved a $6,000 bond to build the city’s first high school on the property, city spokesman Doug Buell said. Marysville High School opened a year later, with a graduating class of two students.
The building was converted to a grade school in 1914 and served in that capacity until it was no longer needed as a school and boarded up in 1943, said John Bingham, capital projects director for the school district.
The district hung on to the property and leased it to a group in 1957 that tore down the original building and built a new recreation and youth center, Bingham said.
“I remember going there as a child to community events,” said Bingham, 52.
The YMCA later took over the building and used it until moving to its current location at 6420 60th Drive NE in the 1990s.
The school district reopened the building and ran the 10th Street School, a music-based program, at the site until May of last year. That program is now housed at a new site on 27th Street.
The 10th Street building will likely eventually be remodeled but it’s in good enough shape to use as-is, Tsoukalas said.
“Structurally it’s sound — it needs a little TLC. It’s good enough to open the doors,” he said.
Full-service Boys &Girls Clubs offer athletic programs and classes in computer training, arts and crafts, leadership, and character building, along with drop-in hours with pool tables, foosball and ping pong, Tsoukalas said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439, sheets@heraldnet.com.
Field dedication
Marysville Little League has scheduled a rededication of Rudy Wright Memorial Field for 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Mayor Dennis Kendall, the City Council and others plan to attend. The ballpark is at 10th Street and Cedar Avenue. For more information, call the city at 360-363-8000.
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