Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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 » 1 j the SPECTATOR THE PROGRESS OF JOHNSTOWN’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS Nicholas Nassir The progress of the public schools in Johnstown, and the opportunities for free education, are similar to the rise of a star from the horizon to the zenith. The spectator sees first a lone, dim pinpoint of light which looks as if the blue wall of the heavens was pierced to admit that lone ray which represents the first glow of the star of modern education in Johnstown. The speck of light represents the dona- tion for school purposes of a plot of ground on the corner of Carr and Market streets by that far-sighted founder of our city, Joseph Johns. In 1810, there was erected on this site, a little one-story log schoolhouse. This building was never painted; and when it turned a dark gray and later a mournful black, it was called “Old Blacky” by the boys who received educational guidance there for six days a week under impetus of a gratuitiously applied switch, and who on the Sabbath day received their spiritual guidance there also. Two years after the act of Legislature of 1834, which provided for common schools, “Old Blacky” was supplemented by the “Little Brick” schoolhouse which was erected on the southwest corner of the grounds, opposite “Old Blacky.” In 1837 Judge Easly, a public spirited citizen, built the McConaughy Schoolhouse on the southwest corner of Walnut and Conemaugh streets. This building cost $200, and was considered a great step towards the advancement of our public school system. In 1850, the building was moved to the school plot and placed between “Old Blacky” and the “Little Brick.” After fitting repairs had been made on the McConaughy Schoolhouse, it was painted white and henceforth received the appela- tion “Old Whitey.” In 1855, these buildings were removed from the school plot to make room for the greatest forward step which Johnstown had yet taken in the advancement of her public school system. In their place was erected the less quaint but better equipped building called the Union Schoolhouse. It was built at the cost of $4,458, and was first used as a school on New Year’s Day in 1856. It was in this school that the first system of grading and promotion was used. [24]

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 j— Im j THE SPECTATOR led to the discovery that the ore found in the mountains could be used to make fair charcoal iron. However, not until 1842 did iron figure importantly in the devleopment of the town. In that year, a company known as the Geo. S. King Company built the first furnace in Cambria County. After a period of ten years during which the personnel of die firms changed, the Cambria Iron Works was in- corporated. The Civil War gave fresh impetus to every branch of manufacturing and Cambria iron rails became standard. At the close of the war, three new departments, the Bessemer, the Open Hearth Works, and the Gautier were added to the Cambria Iron Company, which engaged in the manufacture of steel products. After the Flood in 1889, the Cambria Iron Company was succeeded by the Cambria Steel Company, which in turn passed into the control of the Bethlehem Steel Company. The Lorain Steel Company, first established as the Johnson Company in 1882, is the second largest industrial plant in our city. Progress and development of the steel industry have been chiefly respons- ible for the wonderful growth of Johnstown. In addition to the great mills, the Johnstown of to-day has a diversity of other industries; which, together with steel, embrace 135 plants and represent products valued at $125,000,000. The Pioneer Converter In America Cambria Iron Works, 1S(J1-1S(52 [23]

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 Pi, THE SPECTATOR? As the years went by, and the enrollment increased, the need for high school work began to be felt. In 1868, Johnstown’s first high school was organized by S. B. McCormick. The building in which the first high school was located is now standing, and is used as the present Baltimore and Ohio railroad station. This high school boasted of one class with a roll of thirty students, who were taught by A. C. Johnson. Later, in 1880, the high school was moved to the Adams Street building, and the next year to Union Street. In 1882, the first commencement ex- ercises of the high school were presented. Here in the Union Street building the three year course was established; however two years later in 1884, it gave place to the four year course of study. In 1892, the high school was moved to the Somerset Street building where is remained until 1900. The star had been steadily growing larger and brighter and suddenly rose more quickly, because in 1900 a new building was erected on the old plot of ground donated by Joseph Johns. This schoolhouse was built at the expenditure of $100,- 000 and was considered the finest improvement in the educational development of Johnstown. In this building the high school was located until 1926, when it was The First High School Now the Baltimore and Ohio Station One room of this building was used as a high school transferred to the building on Somerset Street, a new building, erected and equipped at the cost of $1,328,805. A part of the high school development of the city is the junior high school. The first junior high school in Johnstown and the second one in the state of Pennsylvania, was the Garfield Junior High, which was opened September, 1915. [25]