Banning High School - San Gorgonian Yearbook (Banning, CA)

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LOOKING BACKWARD The Banning High School, when we delve into the rec- ords of its first years, appears to have ‘‘just erowed,”’ Topsy-like, in response to an urgent community need. The first reports show that before any classes had been grad- uated, the High School grades were simply continuations of the grammar grades, and were numbered in a similar manner, Thus we find that the class of ’99, the first class to receive diplomas from this High School, went through the fourth years’ term, not as first, second, third and fourth year pupils, but as members of the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades. That was when school was being conducted in the three- room frame building on Murray Street, just across the ‘‘wash’? from the W. S. Hathaway residence. Prof. Paul G. Ward, the schoolmaster, beloved in the hearts and minds of those who were fortunate enough to come under his influence in those days, was the first High School principal. Miss Mildred Forsythe was the first assistant High School teacher, but she was not employed until 1897. The trustees during this period were Mr. C. A. Reid, Mrs. Ida T. Bird and Dr. J. C. King. A great deal of credit is due them for the commencement of the High School as well as the continuation of it. From its very first year the Banning High School has been accredited to California universities and colleges. Sue and Marian Bird, now Mrs. R. H. Coombs and Mrs. Frank Barbour, were the only members of the class of 1899. The graduation exercises that year were held in the hall upstairs in the brick building across from the Banning Hotel. These two graduates chose the colors for the High School—green and white. Three more classes were graduated from the little school house. In 1900 Frank G. Reid and Robert Foun- tain were the graduates. The tragic ending of the life of Robert Fountain, in 1905, when he was a Senior in the law department at Stanford, was a deep grief to the en- = 19=

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Miss Maud Blanchard (Mrs. Curtis Black). Student at Redlands University. Banning, California. Mr. Walter Graf. Puente, California. Miss Frieda Iselin. Student at Pomona College. Banning, California. Miss Geneva Fountain. Ordway, Colorado. 1912 Mr. James Weinland. Student at Pomona College. Ban- ning, California. Mr. Kelly Reid. Student at Pomona College. Banning, California. Miss Ruth Reid. Student at Los Angeles Normal. Ban- ning, California. Miss Grace Makosky. Teacher. Mr. Harry Hield. Student at Pomona College. Rancher. Armada, California. 1913 Miss Emma Chisholm. Student at Los Angeles Normal. Los Angeles, California. Miss Olive Kalar. Student at Nazarene University, Pas- adena. Banning, California. 1914 Mr. Harold Fountain. Student at Pomona. Banning, California. Mr. William Westerfield. Student at Occidental. Ban- ning, California. Mr. Douglas Holeomb. Student at Occidental College. Banning, California. Mr. Albin Iselin. Student at Pomona College. Banning, California. Mr. William Weinland. Teamster. Banning, California. Miss Bernice Jones. Student at Riverside Business Col- lege. Banning, California. ==18=

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tire community. He was drowned in the lake on the uni- versity campus. This is the first and only break in the rank of graduates from the Banning High School. In 1991 Laura Reid (Mrs. A. B. Handshy) and Frances King (Mrs. Tom Hannay) were given diplomas. Mrs. Hannay is a missionary in British East Africa and is the only one of the alumni now in a foreign country. She is at present superintendent of the mission school at Kijabe, and is translating two text books into the Kikuyu dialect for the use of her pupils. In 1902 there were three graduates, including Hattie Richards, Madge King (Mrs. Norman L. Prince) and Martha Morris (Mrs. Robert King). This was the last class to graduate from the old building. In the fall of that year a new school building was erected, on the site of the present Central grammar school. To the class of 1903 went the honor of being the first class to graduate from the new building. In 1904 a class of eight was graduated. Strangely enough, this class, which was the largest to leave the school up to that time, has only been equaled once in numbers. The 1910 class also had eight members. The old saying of ‘‘quality rather than quantity’’ seems to apply to the B. H. 8. The classes of 705 and ’06 were sent out into the world without undue excitement, although it is interesting to note that the first class was made up of one girl and five boys, while ’06 reversed the plan with one boy and four girls. Tn the spring of 1907 the school house was burned to the ground. Banningites will not soon forget that occurrence, nor the sound of the school bell as it rang its own knell in the flames. By the way, that was the last school bell Banning had. Prior to the burning of the building, chil- dren in this community had been called to their studies by a bell; but with the rebuilding came modern methods and the elimination of the school bell. —20—