Amarillo High School - La Airosa Yearbook (Amarillo, TX)

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CORONATION of HER MAIESTY, QUEEN MARY OF THE HOUSE OF STACK Ncmvcxllbcr' 8, 1938 is age 23 E E D T I U 'k i' if L A A I R D 5 A

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FIFTIETHANNIV he Zsfory of ur SM00! On this golden anniversary of the schools of Amarillo, many of us pause to wonder about the history of our organization. Let us, then, go back to the beginning-to that time when Amarillo consisted of only a handful of buildings set in the middle of a seemingly endless area of level plains. Amarillo's first school was a private one, established in 1888. The school board was unable to secure a building that first year,of the townls existence. But in the summer of 1889 the county built a one-roomed courthouse over in Old Town, northwest of the present site of Amarillo. For a time this building was used as a combination schoolhouse, courthouse, and church, it was later sold-or donated-to the school board for five dollars, and moved midway between Old Town and New Town. This new location is now the block between Eighth and Ninth, Harrison and Van Buren, only five blocks from the present location of AHS. Amarillo grew so rapidly in those days that before an addition to the school house could be completed, another was needed! Finally it was decided that another building must be secured, for it was impossible to make more additions to the old one. lt was also necessary to secure a new site, because it rained more in the good old days, and the schoolhouse, located in a huge shallow lake, was surrounded by water so much of the time that the pupils had to wade through water and mud puddles until the sidewalks were built on stilts! An old saloon was purchased and enlarged, but it too soon became crowded. The problem was solved temporarily in IQOO, when Amarillo was incorporated. Then the city was able to vote a bond issue for a city hall, which was immediately converted into a schoolhouse. The new location was the present site of AHS, which to most people of forty years ago seemed halfway to Canyon, since there was nothing south of it and even nothing north of it for half a mile! By 1903 the pseudo-city hall, commonly known as the Red Brickf! was crowded, and chicken coops, as the pupils called them, were used to accommodate the overflow. These little frame structures helped, but there were still too many advanced students. As a result, Amarillo Independent School Dlistrict was formed in 1905, and a brick high school was constructed at Fifth and Iohnson. This first high school build- ing is now the Iohnson Street School. In 1911 a bigger and better building was erected at Fourteenth and Polk. Central Iunior High now occupies this building. ln 1913 came our first football team! By 1915 the old strict academic course had been supplemented by a broader curriculum which includ- ed science and domestic art. From that point AHS really began her growth as an institution of higher learning. However, in 1918 an epidemic of flu, then called Hgrippew or influenza, hit Amarillo, and the schools were closed and the buildings used as hospitals. About that time the school population again spurt- ed upward, and in 1921 the first unit of our present high school building was erected. Except for the armory, built in 1930, and the northwest wing, added in 1937, AHS was completed in 1926. ln 1922 the first athletic coach was hired, since that time Amarillo has been a football town, loyal to its team, win or lose. This tale of improvements was climaxed in 1937-38 by the inauguration of the twelve-year plan, which is being adopted by the more outstanding schools in the state. The faculty and equipment have kept up with the times. Though we are again crowded, building improvements are being made and other changes planned. A strange career, that of AHS! She has been a courthouse, a saloon, a city hall, and a hospital at one time or another in her fifty years of existence. But one thing about AHS never changes: her ability to stay at the top in both scholastic and athletic fields. There is no alternative, she must go forward, for the loyalty of all those who have ever attended the institution demands that she continue to progress. l-Ierels to Al-IS on licr golden anniversary! Ab A Page 22 ...Em 5 - a . a1k.,'-sb:qf E R S A R Y

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A5 A-HK ...J l FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY