Olean High School - Congress Yearbook (Olean, NY)

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BOARD OF EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION Donald A. MacDuffie, M. D., Preyidefzt Benjamin L. Harris, Secretary john F. Turner Earl H. Harter john M. Curry Floyd P. Almy Guy H. Swart W. Coast Conkling Leslie Atkins, M. D. o Harry W. Stone, Clerk Doris Davison, Secrezfary to Clerk J. Leon Darlington, TI'6c1.I'lH'61' William C. Greenawalt Sutlierifzlefzdefzt of Sclaoolr Fannie Stowell Secrelary lo Superifzlendezzl Van A. Simmons Szzperintefzdenz of Building! 1 3 I jf James L. McCreacIy I I El Allemlafzce and Cloilcl Arcounlifzg C C3 N G F2 S S ' 'I 9 3 5 Sixteen

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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 The building was out of date and overcrowded.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

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THEY ARE BUILDING STILL, SEEING THE CITY IS BUILT TO MUSIC, THEREFORE NEVER BUILT AT ALL. AND THEREFORE BUILT FOREVER. - 9 I5 C CD N G R E S S Svvmmrz-ml