Central High School - Red and Black Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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ve- On July I4, I868, the committee recommended that a portion of the large hall on the third floor, which served as an auditorium, be fitted with suitable desks and blackboards for the use of the drawing department. This was an evidence of the overcrowding of the school, which continued with increasing discomfort and detriment for many years, though relief was sought in various ways, until it was at length obtained in September, IS93, when the new building was opened on Grand and Windsor Place. The report of the Principal, Mr. H. H. Morgan, for year IS67-l868, dwells on the amount of home study required as shown by reports of pupils of each of the four years. It shows both the expectation of the school as to the appli- cation of students and the care taken not to impose too heavy a burden on them, but one that could be borne without detriment or hardship. The hours prescribed were from 9:00 a. m. to 2:30 p. m., including thirty minutes for lunch, and were divided into six periods of fifty minutes each. The years were not divided into two parts until ten years later. ln the first year there were three five-day subjects and one four-day sub- ject. This left more than an hour and a half daily for study in school in addition to two hours and a half of home study. The average age was l4.9 years. ln the second year, there were three five-day subjects and one four-day subject. This again left more than an hour and a half daily for study in school, in addition to three hours of home study. The average age was l5.8 years. ln the third year, there were four five-day recitations and one four-day. This left an hour a day for study in school in addition to three and one-fourth hours at home. The average age was l6.6. In the fourth year, there were iive daily recitations beside the rhetorical work in connection with an assembly hour. This left less than one hour a day for study in school and the average home study was three and one-fourth hours. The average age was l7.6 years. The rhetorical work mentioned consisted in the giving of orations by the boys and of essays by the girls before the entire school asembled in the auditorium or large hall on the third floor, and for these orations and essays very serious preparation was required and, on their delivery, much pains was spent. There was ambition to excel both in thought content and effective presentation, and also in elocutionary effect. It may be pertinent to say in this connection that, in those days, an exami- nation was required at the end of the year in every subject, covering a year's work, and that failure in one subject made it necessary to go over the entire year's work in all subjects. Promotion by subjects was not then allowed and the required per cent for passing was 65. Thirzy-two

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Vmwmvmmwvm V. THE RED AND BLACK .e V- gb Q. .-W lQg xlg1ur1g4' 1g 4n1g4L1g4s1 4L1gi A year later, on April l l, I865, the High School Committee reported that the spirit of satisfaction and solemn earnestness is manifested in the perform- ance of the duties devolved upon instructors and students. On September l2, l865, Helen A. Shafer, afterwards President of Welles- ley College, was appointed as an assistant teacher at a salary of S900.00, a rare teacher of mathematics, a womanly woman, possessing the most charming feminine traits of character. On February I3, I866, the High School Committee announced to the Board the serious protracted illness of Mr. C. F. Childs, the Principal, and on February 27 ,l866, informed the Board that it had deemed it desirable and expedient to appoint lVlr. H. H. Morgan, the first assistant teacher, to take charge of the functions of Principal. On March I3, I866, the Committee on High Schools offered resolutions on the death of Mr. C. F. Childs, the Principal, which resulted from pneumonia incurred by his efforts to extinguish a fire that started from the furnace and caused serious damage to the building. Regardless of possible consequences to himself, Mr. Childs had tried in vain to put out the fire by throwing buckets of water up against the ceiling and burning Hoot above. It was a very cold day and the water, as it fell down, froze upon him. He had but recently recovered from a severe attack of typhoid fever, and the exposure was more than he could endure. On January 15, 1867, the proposition was made to transfer the library of the High School to the Public School Library, reserving certain privileges. On Monday after the close of the schools, the graduates formed an Alumni Association which later rendered most valuable service to the school in its persistent efforts to secure a new building suited to its needs. ln November, I867, Mr. Thomas Davidson, later recognized as one of the five greatest scholars of the world, was appointed an assistant in the High School. ln the Superintendent's annual report for the year l867-1868, the need for greater accommodations was stressed and the division of the large hall on the third floor was suggested as the best plan for furnishing immediate relief, to be followed later by the establishment of three intermediate schools in different parts of the city to house the Grammar Department and the Junior year of the High School. The advantage of bringing together pupils of the higher grades in the High School for association with large numbers of advanced pupils was recognized as one of the chief attractions of the High School, and the conclusion, reached was that it would be better to divide the large hall rather than leave the eighth grade graduates in their respective schools. Thirty-one

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C: THE RED AND BLACK N pl M kxLliLl,L1fALSALfy gil!Vilwtrflwr ilwrilwrllwV311Vile 4 T A 1 - A On june 8, IS69, Mr. F. Louis Soldan, afterwards Principal of the High and Normal School, was appointed teacher of German and French. In the report of the Teachers' Committee of this date, the establishment of an Intermediate School was recommended for such pupils as had failed to make the required per cent in their examinations for the High School, but had found themselves so efficient in the more important branches taught in the district schools as to make it inadvisable for them to continue another year reviewing the same studies. For this school rooms were fitted up in the O'Fallon Polytechnical Institute on the southwest corner of Seventh and Chestnut Streets, which heretofore had been used by the Polytechnic School at night. POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL BUILDING, 7TH AND CHESTNUT An lntermediate School after l869g also Original Home of Public Library ln june, l870, it was recommended to transfer the membership of the Intermediate School to the second year of the High School, unconditionally, Thirty- three