Arsenal Technical High School - Arsenal Cannon Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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HE ARSENAL CANNO

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9 PROPOSED SITE OF MEMORIAL HALL A MEMORIAL Always hoping, dreaming, aspiring toward the heights, Mr. Milo H. stuart, Tech's gs! by founder and first principal, TN X began on that clear Septem- W . ' ' ber day in 1912 to build on the site of the practically de- serted United States Arsenal grounds a nation- ally known school of secondary education. Mr. Stuart, then principal of Manual Training High School, and his eight selected Manual teachers were organizing this new unit as an overflow high school. It was in the winter of that year that Mr. Stuart had first visited the Arsenal to see whether or not it could be used for a public school. The sight that met his eyes was not encouraging. The first floor of the building served as a print shop for the U. T. A. School of Printing, the second was a dirty, cobweb-hung storeroom, the third housed the School of Phar- macy of Old Winona Tech. And, more than that, the grounds were in the hands of a re- ceiver awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court, and any lease which was obtained could be terminated within five days. But in the face of all these obstacles, on Sep- tember 12, 1912, Mr. Stuart, with his loyal teach- ing staff, greeted the first one hundred and eighty-one pupils of Arsenal Technical High School. The second floor of the Arsenal had been divided into eight rooms and these, to- gether with a part of the second floor of the Artillery and ,Electrical Buildings, were the classrooms to be used during the first years. l MR. MORGAN MR. STUART But in spite of the necessity of using make- shift classrooms and inadequate equipment, the school, under Mr. Stuarts able leadership and foresight, grew so rapidly that four years later fourteen hundred students were enrolled. Then on May 22, 1916, the Supreme Court rendered its decision which made the Indian- apolis Board of School Commissioners trustee of the Arsenal grounds and buildings, author- izing it to conduct there schools offering aca- demic and technical courses. This same spring Mr. Stuart resigned as principal of Manual so that he could devote all of his time to the devel- opment of the new school. For nineteen years Mr. Stuart was principal, in November, 1930, he was appointed assistant superintendent of public instruction in charge of secondary edu- cation. At the beginning of the nineteen years he visualized a school that would offer more opportunities to its students than would any other high school in this section of the country. At the end of that time his dream had become a reality. Today, those who worked and learned under the direction of Mr. Stuart are pondering over the question, How can we preserve the name of such a leader, educator, statesman, and phil- osopher so that future students of this school will realize what opportunities he made pos- lContinued on Page 373 THE ARSENAL CANNON

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