Pottsville High School - Hi S Potts Yearbook (Pottsville, PA)

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.-......,-....' GARFIELD BUILDING A fourth or post-graduate year offered these subjects: Solid geometry, advanced algebra, Virgil, Cicero, prose composition, review of the three years' work in Latin, and mathematics. Elective subjects included German, French, Greek, teachers' course, and mathematics. Shortly before the reorganization of the school, its location was moved to the old Academy building at Fifth and West Norwegian Streets. The enrollment at the time numbered 14 pupils. The school site was the Iackson Street building from 1876 to 1894 when it was transferred to the Garfield building at Fifth and West Norwegian Streets, then in 1916 to the Pat- terson building at Twelfth and Market Streets, and finally to the present location at Sixteenth Street and Elk Avenue in Ianuary, 1933. Within a ten-year period following the school's reorganization, the enrollment increased by leaps and bounds. School board proceedings of the time showed the enrollment of 59 pupils and three teachers in 1873, 78 pupils and two teachers in 1878g 81 pupils and three teachers in Iune, 1882, and 144 pupils and three teachers in November of 1893. Contrast this with today's student enrollment of 929 pupils and 81 teachers. The all-time high enrollment in the school's history was 1,700 students during the 1939-40 term. During this period of rapid growth the high school was directed by Stephen A. Thurlow, another outstanding figure in local educational circles. Mr. Thurlow was named principal in September, 1881, and later became superintendent in 1906 upon the death of Mr. Patterson. Mr. Thurlow served as superintendent until his death on Ianuary 4, 1912. The closing years of the Nineteenth Century marked another big step forward in Pennsylvania that made a high school education possible for many who could not otherwise afford this schooling. The Free School Book Act was adopted by the Legislature and in September, 1893, all public school scholars received their textbooks without cost. Previously high school textbooks would cost approximately 525, a large sum in those days. In commenting on the issuance of free textbooks the P. H. S. Annual of 1894 had this to say: The benefit to be derived from this cannot be told in a short space, but it is suflicient to say that the whole country will be benefited by graduating from the schools, intelligent and educated men and women. With the increase in the student body during the 1876-'94 period, while the school was situated in the Iackson Street build- ing, came the first large-scale expansion of the school curriculum. A commercial department was added, but as a separate unit, On March 12, 1912, it was merged with the academic department, The beginning of the second half of the school's centennial history brought with it an innovation that ranked only second to the issuance of free textbooks in promoting the growth of the school. This was the inauguration of a four-year course that went into effect in September, 1908. The 1908 issue of the Annual related: For some years a four-year course has been agitated for the high school, but up to this time it has received no serious attention. The visit of the State Inspector of High Schools, however, seems to have brought the matter before the minds of the board and the people in general as never before. -3-

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Further, the Annual report stated: A four-year course would mean much for the high school, much in the way of scholar- ship and in preparation for college or for immediate entrance to the business world. This enlargement of the curriculum would necessitate more room and more teachers, but surely Pottsville can afford this with its boasted wealth and the love for educa- tion. Under existing conditions we are hampered by the lack of time for such studies as rhetoric, chemistry and astronomy- three of the most difiicult and important studies in the curriculum. The Class of 1912 was the first to graduate under the four-year curriculum-there being no 1911 class--but the new educa- tional venture brought with it new problems for the school board. When school resumed in the fall of 1914 there was not sufficient room to accommodate the pupils. Within a period of six years the enrollment had increased from 100 to 300 and fully 100 more were listed for the 1914-'15 term. A number of plans were considered by the school board, among them a suggestion that a new building be erected at Nine- teenth and Market Streets, or that the Garfield building, then the site of the high school, be enlarged by the addition of another story. The most practical idea, however, seemed to be the one proposed for enlarging the Patterson building at Twelfth Street to accommodate the high school pupils. Architect F. X. Reilly drew up plans to enlarge the Patterson building: Contractor Wertley was awarded the contract for 344,250 and on September 29, 1916, the new school opened with an enrollment of 500 pupils. With the outbreak of World War I popular public opinion forced the school authorities to substitute Spanish for German in the language department and the inauguration of a reserve officers training corps. An R. O. T. C. auxiliary was also formed, with every girl in the school enrolled in the unit. The training course was discontinued in 1921 and the question of new quarters for the high school again came to the attention of the school board and public. The electorate defeated the initial plan for a new building by a 3534-1804 vote at a special election on November 5, 1924. In December, 1930, the public voted 2449 to 1521 in favor of a i1S900,000 loan to build the present school on the site then known as Fisher's Farm. The school was ready for occupancy in Ianuary, 1933. The building in its design is an adaptation of Italian-Gothic brick work. Its beauty is enhanced by the large irregular and commanding site on which it stands, and by the variety of exterior design that refiects the manifold activities of a modern school plant. Because of the different grade levels the structure evolves gradually from a three-story building on the west to a five-story plant on the east. It is so uniquely planned, however, that the two gymnasiums on the west, the general offices at the central or main entrances, the auditorium on the east, and the cafeteria underneath, all have ground floor entrances. The cafeteria, operated on a self-supporting basis and without profit, can accommodate the entire student population at lunch time on a two-shift basis. The auditorium, with a seating capacity of 1499, is fronted by a large stage with two well- appointed dressing and costume rooms and also a moving picture booth in the balcony. The acoustical properties of the room are well nigh perfect and it has been the setting for presentations of some of the world's best known musical organizations of the last decade, in addition to a variety of local group presentations and programs that regularly form a part of school life and activities. For small group uses there is a little theatre with a seating capacity of 144. TWELFTH STREET BUILDING - PATTERSON BUILDING l -10-