As Mercer Island High School’s first graduating class of 1958 celebrates its golden anniversary, our first thought is how different life is 50 years later. Yet, in many ways, nothing has changed. Community members worried then as they do now about how to accommodate growth while maintaining the essence and values of Island life. Island lore, newspaper stories and even books reveal that early Islanders fought off most anything that threatened their way of life for years — even when changes were sorely needed.

Rural and isolated, the Island remained unincorporated and split into two separate towns until 1961. Basic needs were managed by do-it-yourself neighborhood community groups and fiercely independent souls. Water furnished from the lake in some places was still delivered through wooden pipes. Roads were primitive. All but a few structures were served by very basic septic systems. Trash collection did not exist. It smelled. Yet despite begin unable to work together to solve these issues, Islanders were successful in resisting the influence of outsiders by stopping a movement to annex the Island to Seattle. And on a more familiar note, a call for reinstating bridge tolls was met with stiff resistance.

But as now, as it was in the 1950s, nothing was going to hold back the change that was coming to Western Washington and Mercer Island. In less than 10 years, the Island population jumped from 4,500 to 12,000.

Yet, even as Islanders could not agree on how to manage their land, they came together on the importance of education. As the need and location of shopping and retail areas was hotly debated, the community came together to build and furnish a library. New schools were built and enrollment soared. The Mercer Island High School Class of 1958, its members successful and productive citizens, was the culmination of that effort — an accomplishment still bearing fruit.

Fortunately, for all, educating and nurturing children and teens remains at the center of Island life. Just like in the 1950s.