McKinley Elementary School was built (at a cost of $20,128) and opened in the fall of 1915, on a 2.5-acre parcel of land. The original 1.5 acre was purchased for $5,000 from Julius Voget. As part of this deal, Mr. Voget had to plow and grade Ohmart Street from Commercial to the school site, and install a four foot wide plank for a sidewalk. Over the next 20 years the site grew to be about 3 acres.

Due to a decline in enrollment, the school was closed after just two years. The school sat vacant for a short period of time, before reopening as a hospital. After World War I, hospital space was needed because of a worldwide influenza outbreak, and McKinley was opened as part of Salem Hospital, with space for 50 beds. The operating room and kitchen were located in the basement. It was turned back into a school and reopened in 1920 as a junior high, to relieve the overcrowding at nearby Lincoln Junior High. In 1927, it again became an elementary school when Leslie Junior High was opened.

Since the original building was constructed, there have been several additions. In 1949 two additional classrooms and a multi-purpose room/cafeteria were added. McKinley continued to grow and a need for more classrooms resulted in four additional classrooms being built in 1959. The last two additions were the music room/gym built in 1978 and the library that was added in 1980.

McKinley and the Baker Elementary School community have been closely tied together since September 1951. Baker was originally constructed to ease overcrowding at nearby Bush and McKinley Schools. Baker currently serves 75 students in grades K through 2. Upon completion of their second grade year, Baker students move on to McKinley.

McKinley currently has 325 students and many special programs to assist them in their learning. McKinley boasts a strong parent volunteer program that affords students a variety of additional activities. These include Spanish for the upper grade students, Destination Imagination, and Junior Great Books. The school emphasis is to provide students with a firm grounding in the academic skills with a broad view of the world.

Although McKinley boasts some of the best test scores in the Salem/Keizer School District, the school is always looking at improvement and has targeted areas of writing, reading and math as a focus for the 2000-01 school year.

Submitted by Randy Gordon, McKinley School