10/15/2026
The LP Brown Public Closure Hearing is TONIGHT at 6pm. Come to the play shed at 5pm for food, music, and community! Public comment sign up is open until 7pm tonight at https://forms.osd111.org/boardmeeting/publiccomments Madison hearing signup is available at the same link. Livestream from 6pm at https://osd111.zoom.us/j/92421739026
OK!
FUN FACT! Our district has only named: Margaret McKenny and Julia Butler Hansen Elementary Schools after women, Thurgood Marshall Middle School after a Black person, Wilfred Reeves Middle School and LP Brown Elementary School after district employees, McKenny after an Olympia native and OSD grad, and LP Brown was the only living person an OSD school was named after, 2 months before his death.
Part IX of 19.5: In 1963, attention at the National School Board Association was focused on decentralization of administrative and guidance functions, Boston Harbor School District No. 1 and Olympia School District No. 11 were voted to become Olympia School District No. 111, and the Board of Education granted the Olympia School District a matching $61,250 for a new Westside elementary school. On October 18, 1963, the Olympia Elks Club, Kiwanis Club, and Rotary Club voted on the name Leland P. Brown Elementary School.
Leland Pennock Brown was a WWI veteran, and educator before entering the district, teaching at Olympia High School. When the principal at the high school became superintendent, Brown took his place at 26 years old. He revamped the Olympus and taught journalism at the school, as well. In 1931, he became superintendent and led the district through the Great Depression & WWII. During his tenure, McKinley Elementary School, Madison Elementary School, John Rogers Elementary School, and Jefferson Middle School were opened. Brown was offered many jobs in larger cities, but considered Olympia home. He retired due to ill health in 1957 after 39 years in the district. He was still an active volunteer in the Washington Education Association, the district, and local nonprofits until his death in December 1963.
The building itself was built when a new sewer line was built on the westside, and the district contributed $8,000 to the effort. Following the death of Robert Wohleb, Olympia Architect’s Gordon Bennett & Stephen Johnson (BJSS), who also designed the Olympia Federal Savings downtown branch & many OSD buildings to follow, designed the $259,000 building to relieve the original Garfield basement and portables (listed as sub-standard by the district) of 240 students. The school took up only a portion of the lot’s 9.5 wooded acres, and opened on January 4, 1965. The plans for the school were selected for an exhibit in 1966 to the AASA National Convention in Atlantic City.
LP Brown has had multiple renovations, including a 6,500 square foot addition. Most recently, a partnership with local organizations brought the Environmental Learning Place which capitalizes on the distinct forested location.
In the late 90s, LP Brown used their onsite kiln for a multi-year nature mural that hangs in the school still. It continues to welcome students to the northwest school, named after one of the district’s most effective and Olympia-centric.
