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Page 12 text:
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FIRST TRUSTEES OUTLINE PURPOSE OF SCHOOL Top: School at Ridgewood Avenue Above: 1803 Hennepin Avenue, site of second school MR. NEWTON, headmaster. MR. BI.AKE. founder of The Blake School MR. JOHNSON, third headmaster Junior School at Colfax Avenue (through 1939) (Editors’ Note) This being Blake’s 50th Anniversary, it is only proper that the half century of Blake's existence should Ik- reviewed. We will take from Blake what we will . . . perhaps these pictorial anil verbal impressions may cast some new lights on 50 years of Blake, and may give a sense of the way things have changed, and not changed, in both the distant and immediate past. Our impressions are. in the large part, formed by these various buildings and teachers which mold, to a great extent, our lives at Blake, and which arc often neglected in the weekday round of classes, athletics, and social activities. Eugene C. Alder, a former headmaster, and Benjamin S. Woodworth, class of 1917, have written their own early histories of Blake. The editors felt both Mr. Alder and Mr. Woodworth should have their histories presented as the basic part of the over-all history because of their different impressions and recollections. The following is a combination of both histories written by two old friends of Blake who died within a month of each other in early 1955: “Blake School was founded in 1907 by Mr. William McKcndree Blake, a graduate of De Pauw University of the class of 1873. After his graduation from college, Mr. Blake was successively a teacher, a principal, and superintendent of the public schools of Indiana for about thirty years. He then came to Minneapolis and started a school for boys of which he was principal for four years. “This school, which opened for students on September 20, 1907. was situated at 200 Ridgewood Avenue. In four years it grew from an enrolment of twenty-five boys with three teachers to seventy-five with six teachers. During that period, having outgrown the first quarters, it was removed to 1803 Hennepin Avenue in January 1911.
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Page 13 text:
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■ “Several patrons became deeply interested in the possibility of a well equipped, well manned school in Minneapolis which might help relieve the congestion of the public schools and make possible the preparation of boys for eastern universities without a long | eriod of boarding school life. Such a school, they felt, with high scholastic standards, and the splendid op| ortunities for development it might offer, would be a benefit, not only to their own sons, but to the sons of many other Minneapolis families. “Accordingly, in the winter of 1911, steps were taken under the leadership of Mr. Charles C. Bovey to bring together a group of public spirited men, and, after careful consideration, it was decided to incorpor-ate the Blake School under a board of fifteen members. The new corporation was legally created under the laws of Minnesota on May 5, 1911. The school, thus First unit, constructed in 1912. includes present library West House, Junior School 1940-48 and Junior High until 1951 incorporated, was to Ik, in the truest sense, a public service cor|x)ration, eventually self-supporting, but never an organization for |Krsonal profit. The newly formed corporation at once took steps to push forward the enterprise. Arrangements were made to take over the school from Mr. Blake and give him a position of dignity in the new Blake School. A guarantee fund was raised, looking toward the erection of a building, and a new headmaster was chosen—Mr. Charles Bertram Newton. “Mr. Newton brought with him to Minncajxdis four young men who formed the nucleus of a new anti departmentalized faculty. Tracy Hale took charge of English and football; Charles Hadden divided his time between instruction in German and baseball, slighting neither and endearing himself to all who came within Shop class in Junior School the range of his talents in the classroom and on the diamond. John Thompson devoted himself to teaching the young the intricacies of square roots and how, when, and what to let X equal,” while Elmer Ira McPhie was charged with the responsibilities of chemistry and history. “This is not the place for an account of Mr. Newton's accomplishments but no account of Blake’s early days would be complete without at least a passing tribute to his ideals and ambitions for the school and the energy and devotion he expended to sjKcd the realization. Mr. Newton took hold of an unorganized, under-staffed, badly equipped institution, brought order out of chaos, raised scholastic standards and accomplishments to enviably high levels and, perhaps most important of all, succeeded in implanting in the boys the seeds of a fine, living school spirit which, once started, grew spontaneously and embodied the fundamental ideals on which the school was built and by which it is governed today. It goes without saying that Mr. Newton’s work was not accomplished single handed. The greater credit is due him for his ability to win the confidence and support of his trustees and for his skill in building up an esprit de corps among the able assistants with which he surrounded himself in the faculty.
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