Archbold High School - Blue Streak Yearbook (Archbold, OH)

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high school built there. These movements relieved the pressure of numbers on our school and postponed the building of a new building here until 1930. ln 1925 the Peter J. Vernier house on Stryker Street was purchased and rebuilt into a Domestic Science Cottage that for several years was the marvel of its day. The State Department of Education kept urging districts to centralize or consolidate their territories and eliminate many one-room rural schools. These schools have been dear to the hearts of many people and such a movement has always met with objections from ma- ny people. The brick school did serve a good purpose in its day, but times change. The movement was anticipated somewhat by the Archbold Village District when in 1930, the New High School Building was built at a cost of 596,000 Plans were drawn by Carl Britsch of the class of 1906. Grads who were students in school at the time will never forget the breaking of the ground for the new building. Others always recall the raising of the 18 ton beam to support the ceiling of the gymnasium. Then came the finishing touches-- plaster, woodwork, equipment, and then school began. Dedication day was Nov. 7, 1930. Archbold now has a fine building set up---so fine, in fact, that some other building com- mittees have copied our buildings in part. ln 1931 the teaching force consisted of R. L. Lorton, Supt., T. L. Parker, Prin., J. Kre- mer, J. Derringer, M. A. Farber, D. Armstrong, L. Smith, M. Nofziger, V. Jones, R. Fagley, O. Buehrer, E. Rufenacht and M. Bernath. The janitors were E. Bourquin and W. Bruns. The Board of Education consisted of Dr. E. A. Murbach, O. A. Bourquin, A. Siegel, H. F. Stotzer and H. Walter. RURAL SCHOOL STUDY HALL AND STAGE ELMIRA SCHOOL DISMISSAL TIME ZONE SCHOOL HOME ECONOMICS

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This influx of students crowded the high school quarters. The stage was torn out of the high school room and a room inclosed that housed the physics, agriculture and home eco- nomics laboratories. The basement room became the Manual Training Department work- shop and even the belfry served as a recreation room for some of the boys on nice, warm, sunny days. The decade marks the regime of M. E. Mattern as superintendent. Some of you re- member the now famous speech delivered by one of the boys in the study hall during the sup- posed absence of Mr. Mattern--- The fact of the case is, the probabilities are. Others will re- call the famous box cars on the New York Central and the lure of the outside that afternoon Others will never forget the wristwatch worn on the ankle, the candy stolen from the boy's pocket and the collection taken to repay the loser. Mr. Mattern sends greetings to all the graduates of this period. He says that he views with pride the accomplishments ofthe school during his administration and is filled with pride whenever one of his boys or girls does something really worthwhile in the world. He has reason to be proud, for there are many notable people listed among the graduates of his time. Still more are yet to be heard from. ln 1921 the teaching force consisted of M. E. Mattern, F. D. Treece, Theodoshia Kimble, Vera Mathie, Marguerite Hoskinson, Adra Ruffer, Osee Buehrer, Luella Lindau and F. A. Tubbs. Jacob Spoerli was janitor and the Board of Education was Dr. E. A. Murbach, A. Siegel, D. Snyder, H. Walter and P. Burkholder. This year marked the close of Mr. Mattern's service to the school. YOUNG HARMONS DO YOU REMEMBER? A GANG OF YESTERDAY 1921-31 The present head of the school, R. L. Lorton, came here from West Unity in Septem- ber 1921, and so has been superintendent for twenty years, the longest of any chief executive the school has had. Numerous changes have taken place during his administration. In 1922 the annex---a two-room, frame building---was built just back of the main building. This was to house the primary grades. In 1930 the new building was constructed to house the six upper grades. This completed the present building set of the school. During this decade the school developed a course of study broader than the neighbor- Ing schools. Typing, shorthand, home economics, industrial arts and other courses were im- proved to such an extent that the school attracted more students from an even larger tcrritory. Clinton, Franklin and Ridgeville Townships sent their students here in ever increasing num- bers. Education became popularized to such an extent during this period that Ridgeville ad- vanced to a four year school and Pettisville was set aside as a separate school district and a

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1931-1941 Consolidation came to pass in 1937. The equipment from the rural schools was moved in and the schoolhouses sold. Some of those buildings have been remodeled and some torn down. With their passing the last vestige of the old regime will have gone except in the minds of a few people who hold the memories of the rural school close to their hearts. Since consolidation it has been necessary to revamp the grade building. The large room upstairs has been divided to form two rooms, the manual training room has become a store room, the girls' toilet has been divided into two rooms accommodating both boys and girls and the boys' toilet has been refinished for a band room. In the new building the home economics room has been refinished with new cabinets, gas and electric ranges, electric sewing machines and the very latest equipment in every way. The history of these individual departments of the school will be discussed later. xi QI .J a 'tx 4' . 'f .4 a A Q. , 1 . J? X DO YOU REMEMBER? PURPOSE OF EDUCATION In these fifty years the school has had a varied idea of what education is. In the be- ginning it served as the institution of learning for only those very fortunate, chosen few who were privileged to attend. Latin, German and English were emphasized because it was thought that they were cultural and culture was a thing to be learned from books. It mattered little if the student leamed anything of the facts concerning every day living. They could learn those things at home. The harder the mathematics and science taught, the more mental training and the more value the subject would have. In the early twenties schools began to encourage children to participate in school activi- A