AQUILA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
8500 W. 31st Street

Aquila Elementary School was built in 1957 with 27 classrooms. Architects were Bissell and Blair. 900 students attended in the first year. It was designed to fit its terrain, and had only one step at the front entrance. Its location precluded a basement or second story, so it was ideal of handicapped students. An addition was built in 1967.

Aquila's Principals were:

1957-1978:  Bob Dougherty

1978-1985:  Jim Wason

1985-1998:  Dave Dooley

1998-2007:  Robert Metz

2007-        :  Shelley Nielsen

                                                                             
                                                                               Sketch by W. Donovan

The name Aquila came from Mrs. Richard J. Westling, whose husband had developed the entire neighborhood. The Westlings had the choice of street names, but they had to fit the guidelines of the City. For that alphabet, streets had to be named after battles. Mrs. Westling originally wanted to name it Aragon, but it was deemed too close to Oregon. Then she found a book called Action at Aquila, which described a Civil War battle where 8 men were killed. The 1938 novel was written by Hervey Allen (who also wrote Anthony Adverse in 1933, which Warner Bros. made into a major motion picture in 1936, starring Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, and Gale Sondergard, and directed by Mervyn LeRoy).

Also see Aquila School’s web page.

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.