Annie Wright School was founded as Annie Wright Seminary by Charles Barstow Wright, who named it for his daughter Annie. in 1884, Annie Wright Seminary opened its doors to 46 students from the Washington Territory, Oregon, British Columbia and Hawaii. At that time, there were ten members of the faculty. The first school catalog outlined the offerings of Annie Wright Seminary: "For board, furnished room, tuition in English branches and Latin, and laundry service, $350 a year." Mary McCarthy wrote of her time at Annie Wright Seminary in her memoirs Memories of a Catholic Girlhood and How I Grew.