Arlington High School - Indian Yearbook (Arlington, MA)

Page 9 text:

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL EAST Historical Sketch As this school is now being dedicated to the cause of education and as it is the newest educational unit in the town of Arlington, it is fitting that a few historical facts be presented with reference to the building and the lot on which it stands. The need of a new school building in the rapidly growing residential section of East Arlington was realized by the officials of the town many years ago and to meet the emergency when it arrived the sum of $111,000 was appropriated at the Town Meeting of March 26, 1917 to purchase this lot. On April 7, 1927 an additional appropriation of $3,702.65 was made to buy part of the land now included in the playground. A special Town Meeting of January 21, 19 27 authorized the appoint- ment of a committee of five to procure plans and estimates for a junior high school in this location, and at a meeting held April 14, 1927 the citizens of the town appropriated the sum of $300,000 for the building. At the meeting held March 28, 1928, $50,000 was appropriated for walks, sidewalks, grading and furnishings. The design of this building was the result of a competition among five well known architects whose plans were judged both as to appearance and efficiency before their names were known- The Frank Irving Cooper Corporation of Boston won the competition and were chosen as the architects. Work was begun on Monday, August 8, 19 27 and the building received its pupils on Monday, September 10, 1928, with 438 pupils enrolled. Although all school buildings are constructed on a similar plan there are a few features presented by this building that are worthy of special note. The editor of the Educational Digest describes it as a building of “Structural beauty coupled with high educational efficiency,” and continues the description in these terms, “The plans used are those of a structure beautiful in its dignity and with utilitarian advantages that recommend it to the most calculating mind- Sixty percent of its floor space is available for educational purposes, which is more than ten percent over the standards suggested as efficient. This factor, considered with the economy in con- struction and safety in use, makes this school outstanding among newer buildings.” One important feature of the building is its T-shaped construction. This effects a measure of separation between the academic portion and the auditorium and gymnasium which are in the top of the “T”. Such separa- tion means that noises during daytime exercises in the gym. or in the auditorium will have the minimum disturbing effect on the students in their class rooms. Further than this, with practically three units in the lighting and heating systems, the use of any one will not impose costs for lighting and heating the other or others, if not in use. There were some advantages in this plan of construction, since the larger work of the halls of auditorium and gymnasium was in a measure separate from that of the smaller class room. The “T” moreover, lends itself admirably to enlargement. The addition of a wing would change the “T” into an “H”.

Page 8 text:

Arlington Junior High School East A) cfticatioK 3Vogr a m FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1928 7.30-8.30 P. M. ORCHESTRA SELECTION. United Liberty Losey JUNIOR H IGH SCHOOL EAST ORCHESTRA INVOCATION. REV. JAMES E. NORCROSS GREETINGS. WILLIAM D. POWER, Principal PIANO SELECTION. Adagio from Plmntasia — Opus 15 Schubert ALAN CHAKMAKJIAN DELIVERY OF KEYS. C. S. Henry, Contractor, to Frank Irving Cooper, Architect. Mr. Cooper to Elliott R. Barker, Chairman of the Building Committee. Mr. Barker to Hollis M. Gott, Chairman of the Selectmen. Mr. Gott to Alexander H. Rice, Chairman of the School Committee. BRISTOPHONE SELECTION- SINGING BY AUDIENCE. “America, The Beautiful.” O beautiful for spacious skies, O beautiful for patriot dream For amber waves of grain, That sees beyond the years For purple mountain majesties Thine alabaster cities gleam Above the fruited plain. Undimmed by human tears. (Chorus) America! America! God shed His gTace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood. From sea to shining sea. ADDRESS. “Recollections of an Arlington School Boy of 1878.” WILLIAM A. MULLER ORCHESTRA SELECTION. Flag of Truce. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL EAST ORCHESTRA 8.35-8.55 P. M. AUDITORIUM ( Educational Film — The Story of Cotton. 1 Boys’ Glee Club — Oleander Time Rupper MUSIC ROOM. Room 7. Visual Education A Lesson in Geography COOKING LABORATORY, Room 5. Girls’ Cooking Class SCIENCE, Room 32. Visual Education Disease Carriers o — AUDITORIUM MUSIC ROOM, Room 7. 9 05-9.25 P. M. 1 Stars of the Summer Night BOYS’ GLEE CLUB ( Educational Film — The Silk Worm Twenty Minutes of Music Liebestraum To Spring- Sonata Pathetique Largo Hungarian Dance Waltz of the Flowers To A Wild Rose Woodbury Liszt Grieg Beethoven Handel Brahms Tschaikowsky MacDowell GYMNASIUM Girls’ Gymnasium Class COOKING LABORATORY, Room 5. Girls’ Cooking Class SCIENCE, Room 3 2. Visual Education People who live in a Crowded Valley INSPECTION OF BUILDING 9.30-10.30 P. 31.

Page 10 text:

The academic, section is 184 feet by 61, and the auditorium! about 7U feet front by 150 deep There are 16 class rooms, a library and one study room. In addition, two rooms are devoted to general science, one to drawing, and one to music. The domestic arts have two rooms and there is a general mechanical shop and a print shop. The principal has a suite for his office force, and there are retiring rooms for the teachers The auditorium has accommoda- tions for a check-room and a ticket office which fit it for community use after school hours. An added feature is the Bristol reproducing horn, which gives a phonograph record or a radio a volume of sound adequate to the hall. The gymnasium is equipped with showers, lockers, and dressing rooms and includes offices for the physical directors and the school nurse. This school house is the fifth building erected in as many years to house our rapidly growing school population, and is the largest school building in Town except the High School. During the last 10 years Arling- ton and Belmont have had the largest percentage increase in population in the Metropolitan area. Realizing these facts, it should be a matter of pride to our citizens to know that even with a yearly increase in school population of over 500, requiring a new school house each year, Arlington has been able to finance this extensive program without appealing to the legislature for authority to borrow beyond the debt limit. The school children of Arlington are now housed in brick buildings of good construction, with two portables to take care of any local emergency. ----- -o BUILDING COMMITTEE. ELLIOTT R. BARKER, Chairman. CHARLES B. DEVEREAUX. WALTER F. ROBINSON. CHARLES H- HIGGINS. WILLIAM A. CORCORAN. ARCHITECTS. FRANK IRVING COOPER CORPORATION, of Boston CONTRACTOR. C. S. HENRY CO.. INC., of Boston. Arlington Advocate Print