Weymouth High School - Campus / Reflector Yearbook (Weymouth, MA)

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YESTERDAY OUR FOUNDATION FOR TODAY As we move on to a new school, we first review the background of the school building on which our traditions are founded. Before 1898, the pupils of Weymouth attended North and South High Schools. In 1897, the townspeople felt that a new school was needed, one that would give their children the best advantages of a cultural education. At the annual town meeting, they appropria- ted $50,000 for its construction. On June 30, 1898, Weymouth High School was dedicated to the students who would for many years grow in stature and intellect within its halls. That day the visitors were shown the many new features of the school; its light, airy classrooms, large hallways, and library. The building, at that time, was not as we know it today. The basement included a coal bin, the ventilating system, as well as boys ' and girls ' bicycle rooms. Outside one entrance, a carriage porch was provided. A large assembly hall extended from the second to the third floor, where the library and rooms 210 and 214 are now located. When the school opened in September, everything was ready for the students except the gym on the third floor. So much money had been put into the building that none had been left for gym equip- ment. The boys of the class of 1899 went throughout the town to solicit money and were able to give the school a fully equipped gymnasium. But in the following years, Weymouth ' s population began to grow, and it became evident that the once ample school was no longer adequate. In 1921, a portable building was bought by the town to provide some relief to the crowded classrooms. Still it was not enough. 1923 and 1928 saw two additions being made to the building; one, the north annex , which contained the boys ' gym, the other, the south annex , which is now our auditorium. These are not the only changes. As more pupils kept arriving , the townspeople remodeled the cafeteria, moved and improved the library, and converted the third floor for the science department. The Weymouth High School building has seen many generations of students enter its doors as bewildered sophomores and leave as young adults prepared for the future. It has watched the gradua- tion of these young people, but it knows that no building no matter how new or elaborate can hope to turn out responsible citizens without the care of dedicated men and women who would guide them through their important high school years. 9