Olean High School - Congress Yearbook (Olean, NY)

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AHISTCDRYOFTHECDL The Wayside Society for junior and Senior Girls was organized on October 19, 1900. The object of the society as stated in its original constitution was to obtain a practical knowledge of parliamentary law and to promote intellectual and social improvement. Its motto was: Do what you are afraid to dog its flower, the Daisy, and its colors, yellow and white. There were twenty-five members in its first year with May B. Billington as President. Olean High School has always taken a prominent part in sports. As early as 1902, a track contest was held with Central High School of Buffalo. Olean at one time belonged to the Syracuse Academic Association which sponsored games and meets between the schools which belonged to the association. Olean was also a member of the Batavia Academic Association and competed in track meets with other members of the same association. In 1910 Olean won first honors at the Alfred Track Meet after competing successfully with nine other high schools. In 1909 the building was remodeled to meet modern requirements at a cost of .'lS10,000. Olean High School had a Glee Club as early as-1893 when it offered selections for the Commencement Program. There was an orchestra formed from high school students in 1902. The first of a series of annual concerts by the Olean and Bradford musical organizations was held in the Olean Opera House in 1908. The music department has always at every commencement since its organization taken part in the program and presented concerts and entertainments during the year. The High School engaged in many new activities during the war. As early as 1914 the proceeds from the football dance went into a fund for Belgian relief and the Wayside society prepared bandages for the relief of the Belgians. On December 3, 1917, with impressive ceremony a large service Hag commemorative of the former students of the high school who had entered some phase of service in the World War was presented to the school by students. As names of those in service were read, representatives of their families came forward and pinned white stars to the Hag. At the first ceremony 130 stars were pinned to the Hag while more stars were added later for others as they became eligible. Those who had died in service were represented by gold stars. In 1917 and 1918 3400 was raised by students to buy Liberty Bonds for the high school. These bonds were to be used as a nucleus for a fund for building a gym- nasium. In 1918 high school students carried on junior Red Cross Work. Sewing classes made bandages and other articles to be used in Red Cross work overseas. The Manual Training classes made packing cases in which Red Cross material was shipped. These cases had formerly cost four dollars each. Committees of students assisted on Saturday mornings in packing these cases with goods, under the direction of the Red Cross department. Seniors in 1918 donated the net proceeds of their play, Monsieur Beaucairef' which amounted to 35662.35 to the Red Cross. During the latter part of the war there were many talks given at assemblies on phases of modern warfare and students were urged to buy War Savings Stamps in place of ice cream and candy. In 1918 students saved peach pits and nutshells in a barrel in the C O N G R E S S ' 1 9 3 5 Fourteen

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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

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OLEA NI-IIGI-l SCHOOL hall for use in the manufacture of gas masks. Olean High was far more active than many other schools in aiding Red Cross work during the war. Under Mr. Sackett's supervision, in 1917, his first year as principal, the Student Council was established. With Mr. Sackett's assistance the high school athletics were entirely reorganized and put on a self supporting basis. The athletic association was formed and proved itself an efficient method of financing school athletics. In 1920 a new heating plant which had been needed for some time was installed. Strange to say, this heating plant cost 3143,000 as compared with the cost of the whole building which was 375,000 The boys' gymnasium and the manual training shops were erected in 1922. Eight years later the girls' gymnasium was added to the unit. During the years past, Seniors have produced quite creditably many interesting plays. Monsieur Beaucaire by Booth Tarkington was the most profitable. Its total receipts were 3892.06 According to newspaper reports the Havens theatre was pack- ed the night it was given. Some of the other plays which are relatively well known were Barbara Frietchie in 1910, Strongheart 1911, She Stoops to Conquer 1916, Trelawney of the Wells 1919, and The Man on the Box in 1920. The registration of students has increased enormously in the past 52 years. By 1920 there were 669 in the high school section, by 1925, 849. In 1925 the building was turned over entirely to high school students. Until that time grade school classes had been taught in the same building ever since the founding of the school. By 1934 there were 1334 students and 50 teachers lodged in a building which had been used for over half a century. The building was out of date and overcrowded. It was generally known that it was a firetrap. However, there was no hope of having a new structure because of existing business conditions. When the Roosevelt administration made it possible to build the school through its Public Works project, plans to do so were made immediately by the Board of Education. The cost of the new building, 3815,000, seems great as compared with the cost of the old building, but does one have to be reminded that times have changed? Back in the days when the old building was constructed men were willing to work for a dollar a day or less, and the cost of material was correspondingly low. Now, how- ever, prices are higher and men are paid higher wages so that the difference in cost is only relative, not real. Money is worth less than it was, so that it now takes a greater amount of it to buy any article. During the spring of 1935 the old building was destroyed to make place for the new. It was the work of a few weeks to destroy what it took months to build. The gymnasium was divided by partitions into classrooms while parts of schools 5, 10 and 6 were used for high school classes during the time between the destruction of the old and the erection of the new building. So runs the history of the old school. May the new bring as much happiness and success to all entering its portals as did the old. The best of the spirit and tradi- tion of the past carries over in to the new. C O N G R E S S ' 1 9 3 5 Fifteen