Alton High School - Tatler Yearbook (Alton, IL)

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A CONDENSED HISTORY OF ALTON HIGH SCHOOL. The first Alton High School, the one which some of our grandfathers attended, was opened in the basement of the Unitarian church in 1858, Yes, it was A. D., but the present needs of this school make it seem like 1858 B. C. About 1866 the need of a better High School was felt, so the pupils were moved to the newly built Number Two, or, as we call it, Lincoln School. The man who had the honor of being the first principal of Alton High School in history was a man by the name of Mr. Raimend. Mr. Raimend must have had a tough job being principal of the first Alton High School as he stuck it out for only two years. At about that time the curriculum was extended to the astounding length of two years. Later, under the reign of Superintendent Principal E. A. Haight, in 1870, the two year term was stretched to three years. As soon as the High School pupils were established in their new building they evidently began elating so loudly and so much that no principal could stay very long. Figures don’t lie, and figures show that from 1866 to 1875 no principal did stay for more than two years. In 1875 R. A. Haight became principal and held that position until 1880 when he was elected superintendent of schools. After that the jinx seems to have been broken, for the shortest stay of any principal thereafter was two years. During Mr. G. E. Wilkinson’s term of office (1893-’96) the present four-year curriculum was introduced. On June 11th, 1902 ,the Masonic fraternity of Alton laid the cornerstone of the present Alton High School building. At that time the enrollment of the school was less than two hundred for, according to old timers, the seats in front of the transverse aisle were not even filled. From that time on the number of pupils in Alton High School grew rapidly until in the year 1914 the annex was made necessary due to the overcrowding. Then a few years ago the still more rapid increase necessitated the buying of the old Boals homestead, now called the Commercial Building. At present writing we are on the verge of voting for money to build a new, bigger, and better Alton High School. Will we go through with it, or will we go through it—by the fallen bottom route? All together now, louder! We’ll go through with it! Page Nine

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©ur faulty As its name suggests, this part of the Tatler is going to be about our faculty, especially about the new members. Now, be it known, ye editor is going to be in deep water immediately upon beginning this article for the simple but very good reason that he doesn’t know very many of the newer members of the faculty. Mr. Weisert seems to be the “peppiest” member so we guess we will start off with him. As you all know, Mr. Weisert teaches science. Everybody likes him, in fact, ye editor is going to fight to get him again next year. “The Philosopher,” as he sometimes calls himself, is exceedingly interested in the school athletics, which he supports at all times. Among his achievements, Mr. Weisert may number his organizing of the Freshmen Club. Next we come to Mr. Pancok. Mr. Pancok, like Mr. Weisert, teaches science. All the girls like him because he has such a pleasing way and such nice, plump, rosy cheeks. But 0! Now we come to a fellow about whom we know almost enough to fill this book, so we will not say much about him. Bet you can’t guess who he is. He’s short but active, has nice, rosy cheeks of the Pancok tint, is good looking, ’never’ thin’. He doesn’t teach anything over here at High School, but as he is our coach, he gets counted as a member of the faculty family. Oh, gee! I gave it away. Yes, the man on the right guessed right, it’s Johnny MacWherter. Now we come to Mr. Manhart. He’s the fellow who teaches the boys and girls to do arithmetic problems. No. not the little easy ones like we had in the grades, but arithmetic anyway. Mr. Dougan teaches ancient history, but not from experience. Not at all, in fact, he did his bit in the world war, so you can see that he’s not at all ancient, even if you don’t know him. Next on the program we will have a song, “Ave Maria,” sung in Latin by Miss Colgate. Lately we have heard a rumor around High School that she is some relative of the far famed tooth paste manufacturer. Be that as it may, the words of a song flow forth from her throat quite as easily and smoothly as the gritless tooth paste flows from the tube. Oh yes, and we almost forgot Miss Dewing and Miss Yoxall, Miss Dewing is a good cook, all right. That’s natural though, for her subjects are cooking and sewing. She also has charge of the “caf”. All the girls like her. Miss Yoxall is the little lady who keeps the girls in trim and close hauled by teaching them gym. And speaking of gym teachers, we mustn’t fail to mention “Heinie” Harkless. His real name is John, but, as he told us when he first introduced himself to us to call him Heinie, we do. All the fellows like him, for, as they used to say in the days before Mr. Volstead became so popular, “he’s a jolly good fellow.” Now Miss Esch comes to our notice. If we didn’t mention her in this number of the Tatler, after all her work in coaching plays, especially the Junior play, we’d sure be—well, we don’t know what to call ourselves. Say Miss Esch, we hope you’ll be with us again next year and for many years to come. Then there’s Miss Felts. She teaches French, but she’s so quiet that we never hear anything to crack on her. We will say though, that if she’s still teaching French when we get out of High School, we’re sure coming back to take a postgraduate course in that subject. Mr. Wood, we believe, has the honor of being the infant of the faculty. He teaches wood-work. So be it! Now go ahead and look at the remaining of the handsome, and otherwise, maps strewn throughout the rest of the book. Page Ten