100 years ago today in Spokane: Brunot Hall, private school for young ladies, announces closure

Brunot Hall, a private Episcopal school which had educated scores of Spokane’s young ladies, was closing for good.

The school’s board said it had lost $35,000 recently and could no longer continue.

It began in 1893 as St. Mary’s Hall. It was later named Brunot Hall after its chief benefactor, Felix Brunot of Pittsburgh. The school thrived under principal Julia Bailey.

“It is not too much to say that the educational standards which she attained at Brunot Hall were on a parity with those of the best schools in the country,” said the local Episcopal bishop. “Graduates from Brunot Hall have entered our best Eastern colleges on certificates and have attained high distinction in those institutions.”

In its prime, Brunot Hall had 100 day students and 40 boarding students, drawn from all over the Northwest. However, hard times arrived around 1910, partly because Spokane’s public high schools had improved so much that private schools had trouble attracting students.

From the fake news beat: Sen. William J. Stone of Missouri wanted to make the publication of fake news illegal.

He was upset about newspapers which circulated false statements to stir up sentiment for a war with Germany.

“There is not a shadow of a doubt in the mind of any fair-thinking man that there is a cabal of great newspapers in this country seeking to create sentiment and coerce the government of the United States into an attitude of hostility with one of the belligerent powers,” said Stone. “I believe anyone who makes such false statements is a public enemy and that he should be punished.”