Burgard Vocational High School - Craftsman Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

Page 18 text:

BURGARD VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL .... It was on May 1, 1925, after much planning by Mr. Kamprath, Mr. Wing, and the faculty, that the first official meeting with Superintendent Hartwell and the Board of Education was held for the purpose of showing the need for a new school for Elm. Many maps, charts, and graphs, showing the growth of the day and night school classes were presented. On June 1, 1926 the Board of Education voted to purchase a site and requested 351,000,000 for the new building. The next move was to get the council to vote for this project. The first hearing before them was held on .lune 5, 1926 and was attended by a large delegation. This was followed by two more council hearings on June 18 and September 10. On September 21, 1926, Henry P. Burgard offered to donate a six acre site on Kensington Ave. for school purposes. This was then followed by another hearing before the Board of Educa- tion on October 12, and a fourth Council hearing on October 15. At each of these hearings the backers of the new school filled the chambers. The fifth Council hearing was not held until May 14, 1927. Finally at a meeting on December 27, 1927 the Board of Education accepted the six acre site on Kensington Ave. and voted to name the new school the Burgard Vocational High School. On December 28, the Council formally accepted the site and voted the 31,000,000 appropriation for the building. The groundbreaking took place on May 7, 1929 and from then on the construction moved rapidly. The cornerstone was laid on November 23, 1929. Mr. Henry P. Burgard, with a silver trowel, started the ceremony of the cornerstone laying. He was assisted by Mr. Henry Jerge, President of the Board of Education and Mayor Schwab. Many business men and school men were in attendance. 1 On September 8, 1930, the doors of Burgard Voca- tional High School were opened for students. The building however was not completed. Many of the rooms and shops had not been finished. The top layer of cement had not been laid in the corridors, which made it necessary to close off parts of the corridors and certain entrances and exits at different times. Naturally, there

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SILVER ANNIVERSA ....ELM VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Prior to 1921, a student, to be admitted to Elm, did not necessarily have to be a grammar school graduate. With the requirements of the trades being raised, the standard of the school kept pace, and starting in this year, no student was entered who was not a grammar school graduate. The CRAFTSMAN as an annual was printed for the first time at the close of 1921. The second and third annexes were rented in 1922. Tire vulcanizing was then offered for day school students and tailoring was opened for the rehabilitation students. The school colors of blue and white were officially adopted in this year. All the courses were two years in length. In 1922 twelve students remained for third year work which was the beginning of advanced courses. Two more annexes were added in 1923, they being Nos. 4- and 5. The other two outstanding events of this year were the opening of aviation work and the holding of the first night school graduation. Our automobile work was growing so rapidly that in 1924 Annex No. 6 came into existence. Added to this, because of the close of the rehabilitation work, we had the facilities of the rooms and shops that they had oc- cupied. In 1925, Elm kept up its expansion. Annexes 7 and 8 were rented. It was also at this time that the need for a new school was greatly felt. Meetings of business men were held for the purpose of presenting this need to the Board of Education. It was on March 2, 1926, that the first hearing for a new school building was held before the Board of Education. This was followed by many hearings until on December 27, 1927, the Board of Ed- ucation accepted the Burgard site and voted 31,000,000 to build the new Burgard Vocational High School. In the meantime Annex 9, a Gospel Tabernacle, was rented for assembly purposes. The first leather bound edition of the CRAFTSRIAN made its appearance this year. The Elm Flying Clubs were organized in 1928, and the first regular aviation courses were offered. The lithography course was started a year later. During the last few years of old Elm, a tremendous expansion of registration in both day and evening school resulted in the turning away of many students, pending the opening of the new Burgard Vocational High School.

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SILVER ANNIVERSA . . . . BURGARD VOCATIONAL I-IIGI-I SCHOOL was no linoleum in the rooms or corridors. There was constant noise from hammers, electric drills, grinders, etc., which at times made it almost impossible for the conducting of recitations. There was practically no equipment in the shops. The printing students spent half a day at old Elm on the old presses, and the other half day at Burgard in bookwork. The studentsi desks, bookcases, etc. had to be brought from the old school. There were neither chairs nor tables in the cafeteria. Everybody had to stand during lunch period. There were no seats in the auditorium. In fact, it was several months before the cement floor in the auditorium was laid and even after it was finished, there were still no seats and ustandingw assemblies were in order. Many rooms had no blackboards and the shops had no tool rooms. In fact many shops had few tools. The gym- nasium floor had not been laid. However, during this time and after it, interesting developements have taken place at Burgard. Our first football team was organized in the fall of 1930. The first Bulletin appeared at Thanksgiving of 1930. In March, 1932 the Memorial Tablet to teachers was placed in the lobby. On November 4, 1932, the members of the art section of the New York State Teachers Association, Western Zone, met at Burgard for the first time, and have met here each year since then. Burgard was the first school in Buffalo to install talking-picture apparatus. This was in November, 1932. The first school dance was held in November, 1932. The first annual musical concert by the Burgard band, orchestra, and glee club was given on Wednesday evening, Decem- ber 21, 1933. Burgard Vocational High School received its charter as a four year industrial high school from the Board of Regents in September 1933. The first School- masters meeting to be held at our school was on March 6, 1934. In J une 1934, the first regents comprehensive shop examinations were given at our school, as well as the regents in English III and IV and American History. The last big event was in November, 1934, when we scored our first football victory over Seneca. Burgard Vocational High School has made great prog- ress, and hopes for greater progress in the future. RY