Urban Myths Of Seattle: Did Prostitutes Start The City School System?

Several myths are still exchanged in Seattle, and this one is quite scandalous.

Rumor has it that young women pulled up to the Emerald City by boat to seek men and "add culture." These women were known as the Mercer Girls and would go on to be some of the founding teachers of the city's school system.

Historians tell a different story, though. KUOW learned that the Mercer Girls were actually women who moved to Seattle during the Civil War. Early Seattle pioneer Asa Mercer would go to towns in the Northeast and South to attract these girls to the emerging city, promising high wages and beautiful scenery.

"The Lowell Daily Courier notes Asa Mercer’s visit to the area in 1864. Mercer never mentioned marriage to these women," reporters said. Peri Muhich studied the Mercer Girls' history and noted that even though marriage wasn't mentioned, Seattle men wanted educated women and Northeast ladies were looking for bachelors. Muhich also read diaries and searched for marriage and death records, which is how she learned many of them were teachers.

In fact, Elizabeth Ordway from Lowell, Massachusetts was the first Seattle teacher -- and she never married.

So how did the rumor emerge? Muhich posits that the Mercer Mercer Girls started being described as mail-order brides in the 1940s or 1950s after their children and grandchildren died. Add fading memory of their actual roles in history, and you end up with a skewed tale. Some Seattlelies still believe the Mercer Girls are prostitutes to this day.

“A lot of people didn’t want to admit to being descendants of the Mercer Girls because they didn’t want that hanging over them,” Muhich said.

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