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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Brunot Hall

This undated postcard shows Brunot Hall, an Episcopal school for girls in the Browne’s Addition neighborhood, that opened in another location as St. Mary’s Hall in September 1891. The school educated the daughters of the city’s well-to-do families, rivaling the top finishing schools in the nation. It was renamed in 1900 after Felix Brunot, of Pittsburgh, who had donated $50,000 to buy and expand the building in 1895. (Spokane Public Library
This undated postcard shows Brunot Hall, an Episcopal school for girls in the Browne’s Addition neighborhood, that opened in another location as St. Mary’s Hall in September 1891. The school educated the daughters of the city’s well-to-do families, rivaling the top finishing schools in the nation. It was renamed in 1900 after Felix Brunot, of Pittsburgh, who had donated $50,000 to buy and expand the building in 1895. (Spokane Public Library's Northwest Room)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

The story of Brunot Hall is about the growth of Protestantism in the West and education of girls from well-to-do families in early Spokane.

Spokane’s Episcopal church, one of 23 missions established by missionary priests across the region, was founded in the 1860s. In 1892, the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, Lemuel Henry Wells, had a chance encounter with wealthy philanthropists Felix and Mary Ann Brunot, of Pittsburgh, on a train from Pullman to Spokane. The Brunots donated more than $50,000 to buy a stately mansion in Browne’s Addition around 1895. It was expanded into a girls school called St. Mary’s Hall. The early class schedule was limited to high school, then expanded to grade school classes over several years.

The school had boarding and day students, many from Spokane’s wealthiest families. Parents paid $450 for a year’s tuition in 1911 in hopes that the school’s rigorous academics would lead students to top universities, such as Smith, Wellesley, Vassar and Vanderbilt. The school advertised in church publications to draw students from around the region. The faculty were all women, many with degrees from prestigious colleges.

Courses included psychology, foreign languages, including Greek and Latin, mathematics, history and science, in addition to training in “habits of refinement and courtesy,” according to advertising. At its peak enrollment, there were 100 day and 40 boarding students.

News of the young women of Brunot Hall filled the newspaper’s society pages. But despite its generous benefactors, enrollment declined, possibly because public schools were improving and attracting new students to Brunot was difficult.

The school had accumulated losses of $35,000 from 1910 until the school closed in 1917.

The building was used as a dance studio and a theater before being remodeled into 31 apartments for wartime workers during World War II.

In August 1973, Spokane police went to the Brunot Apartments after resident John Magney started a fire in the building and barricaded himself inside. When police entered, Magney shot detectives Homer C. Hall and William Beeman before killing himself. The officers survived, but the fire destroyed the large building and it was demolished.