Ames High School - Spirit Yearbook (Ames, IA)

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DEDICATION LOUISE COSKERY Ill appreciation of tlic fact that she lias g:iven her time so devotedly, and that she has helped in every way for the betterment of our paper, the (’lass of IJllO dedicates this senior number of the Spirit.

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In m ntoriant aymonb iBurkuiortt| - ’21 ?Soru .Hilly H, 1304 iDirO iilay 3, 1913 496957

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The Spirit Annual Page 7 ANCIENT HISTORY The beginning of this school Avas in lS7i», when the Independent District of Ames first came into existence and elected its first Board of Trustees. These Trustees were; G. G. Tilden, Isaac Black, H. F. Kingsbury, T. Weld, William West and H. R. Brad well. The first school was held in an old frame building which stood on the lots where the residence of Miss Etta Budd now stands. The next building was another frame building on the site of the present Lincoln School. These two buildings housed five different rooms where instruction was given and where some work in the “higher branches or regular high school work was done. Here the first hign school class “finished without diplomas or commencement orations. This class contained seven membe rs, of which our fellow townsman, J. J. Grove, ’was one. As the school was then so new and no regular course had been adopted, the records do not give an ac¬ count of this event, which was really the graduation of the first Ames High School class. This was in 1874. THE OLD BUILDING — NOW CENTRAL SCHOOL The next year, there began to be talk of bonding the district for the purpose of building a new school house. The voters of the district met and voted to issue bonds to the amount of ten thousand dollars, for the purpose of erecting a new school building. This building was started in 1880, and when finished was a very hand¬ some and commodious brick structure, which still stands as the old gabled part of what is now Central School. For a time, no other buildings were needed, but as the town increased in size, the school rooms became more and more crowded, apd so, with no very long intervals between, different ward buildings were erected, the Welch, Beardshear, and finally the Lincoln buildings. All this time, the high school, living in the second story; o Central Building, was growing and growing, until there was hardly room for brj more new student. Then, there was need of departments other than the regmar En¬ glish, scientific and classical courses then offered. The girls began to talk of other schools having courses in cooking and sewing, the boys wanted to exercise their in-, genuity in Manual Training, and the Athletic Association was crying aloud for a gymnasium. Through the efforts of enterprising citizens, and a school board .whicn had the ability to look ahead, it was voted to build a high school. This was in 1911, while F. W. Hicks ' was superintendent of schools, and A. B. Noble, president of the board. The school board visited other schools where there were modern high school buildings, consulted famous architects and used every means to make the new high school building the best that could be built. The building was finished ,and the furn¬ ishings put in, during the summer of 1912, and in the following September, the Ames High School moved in and took full possession of this handsome new brick SQhPol house.