Olean High School - Congress Yearbook (Olean, NY)

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Dil-IISTCJRYCDFTI-IEOL. On the spot where now yawns an unsightly hole, there was erected in 1852 the first building of the Olean Academy. The Olean Academy Association was incor- porated by the Regents, April 11, 1853, and discontinued October 3, 1868, when its property was bought by the city. This building was destroyed by fire on April 1, 1856, and a new building replacing it was completed by the fall of 1858. The Olean Academy was a private school which taught elementary studies and also offered courses of studies similar to those of the modern high school. Its school year was divided into three terms of fourteen weeks each and the graduating course consisted of three years of study. Examinations held at the end of each term were given by Examiners appointed' by the principal. According to a catalogue printed in 1862 the tuition was four dollars a term for the studies of the first form, five dollars for those of the second form and six dollars for those of the third. In 1862 students pursued such studies as Astronomy, Philosophy, Greek, University Algebra, Latin, Metaphysics, Ethics, Physiology, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Ornamental and Practical Penmanshipf' By 1866 the student could also be enlightened regarding such intriguing topics as Orthography, Intellectual Arithmetic, Universal History, Botany, Miner- alogy, Rhetoric, and Moral Science. On October 3, 1868 at a school meeting which was held in the town hall, a majority of 97 to 3 voted to organize Olean Union Free School District No. I. At the same meeting it was also voted that 352,000 should be raised by tax for the purchase of the Olean Academy property. With this began the present public school system of Olean. The building which had formerly housed the Olean Academy was renamed School No. 1 and continued for a few years under the same principal, Mr. W. Earle. On january 11, 1877 the High School was incorporated by the Regents under the name Olean Union School, Academic Department. It may be interesting to know that the budget of the entire public school system for the year beginning October, 1874, was 85,771 The Board of Education decided that the building in which young people had been educated since 1858 had become inadequate and voted 824,000 for the con- struction of a new building. This structure, which was first used in September, 1881, was the central part of the building which we have recently seen razed to make place for a new one. In the school year which began with the opening of the new building four of the thirteen instructors teaching in the building were engaged in high school work. They were: E. W. Griffith, Prin- cipal and Supervisor, Miss Ida M. Farlee, , Preceptress, Margaret Jewell and Ellura A U... Bennett. The first students to receive the ,212 Regents Academic Diploma, which certified 3 I f the successful completion of high school W L work, were Clara Eeuchter and Georgia '.'A McIntosh, iii 1883. In the year 1891-92 ff and probably earlier, the high school stu- vin- dents attended classes in different buildings I,l. rg i? although No. 1 was known as the Academy Building. At this time time weie 93 students doing high school work, an increase C CD INI G1 R E 5 S ' 1 Twelve .

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TO ALL WHO SHALL COME HERE, SORROWING, TO ALL WHO SHALL COME HERE, REJOICING, SYMPATHY AND GREETINGS: SO HAVE WE DONE IN OUR TIME f--..- -5 -,N L! ,f ,ff f' A , fy, ,fp lj

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OLEAN HIGH SCHOOL of 50W over the preceding year. Because of these crowded condi- tions the west wing was added to the high school building at an expense of 325,000 and first used in the spring of 1893. The high school system had grown to such an extent, that there were, at the time of the addition of the west wing, a principal and six other teachers employed in the high school instruction. A debating society which was organized by Principal O. W. Wood in 1895 was named the Olean High School Congress and operated in imitation of the Congress of the United States. Representatives of the society argued many questions succcess- fully with debating societies of surrounding high schools, such as Alfred Academy, Lockport High, Bradford High, Elmira Free Academy, Matson Park High School at Buffalo, Central High School at Buffalo. Orla E. Black, '01, who is now a prominent judge, was a member of the Congress and was the leader of the Olean team in a debate with the Elmira Free Academy on the question: Resolved that New York State appropriate 326,000,000 for the improvement of the Erie Canal. It was dis- banded in 1915. The name of our year-book and of our weekly paper was taken from the name of this debating society. As the student if-oi ,. . population had in- 5. 4 A creased because of -W' the natural growth 'K of Olean and the 5 g -- W ' A desire of more peo- if 6112.5 A L-gf Us ' ' .fir Ce -ri-East .E ple for education, it , ft . AI334.M2N5,g es f-.gmrtwlf .swjgmfl :mt was decided to add 51:-' Wait, fgvzgigiffgbf . :uma imumlum g I -r - Sa -1- -1 f' 'twf ?3 'N' ri-i'.fv7 ef' w .. f 'J . high M001 build- fl trrt ing- The new ad- :a 3 iT7i'5? e T:' 5 ' s: 'f F i.. l dition, which repre- '9 mzL sented 326,000 in labor and material, was completed in the spring of 1897. There were 198 seats in the study hall so that there were probably about 200 students doing high school work, a number twice as large as that of four years before. According to available records, Olean has the honor of having established the first Junior High School in the United States. It began in 1897 and lasted until 1910. From the time of the origination of the Junior High until its close there were in the high school building three separate schools, each with its own principal and administration. They were the grammar school section, the junior High and the Senior High. CONGRESS'F1i9i35 Thirteen