Cass Technical High School - Triangle Yearbook (Detroit, MI)

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History of Cass Technical High School In 1862 the students in the Capitol school, located at the head. of Griswold street, were transfered to the new Cass Union school, on the site of the present Commerce High School. Lewis Cass, Michigan's greatest statesman, had given a tract of land bounded by Grand River Road, High Street CVernor Highwayj Second Avenue and Gilman Street, for the growing city of Detroit to build a new school. Little did he dream of the lasting and world-wide future - little to be. At the time skirts of town, tended only to reputation this school was to have in the did he know of the size it would grow the school was built, it was on the out- for the built-up portions of Detroit ex- Elizabeth street. Directly north of the school stood Jones' Grove - the site of the present Cass Technical High School and Cass Park. Where the Masonic Temple now stands - cows grazed. Even further north, in areas now serviced by Dexter buses, Kings Woods provided areas where students could pick wild flowers during recess. Grand River road was a plank road - i. e. - on one side there were planks laid down for a road, wide enough for one team of horses, on the other was mud - mud which raised dust in the summer and was impassible in rainy weather. Opposite the school, on Grand River road and Second, stood Kings Cattle Yards, where great herds of cattle were bought and sold. Opposite the cattle yards stood a little brick store where a German woman sold candy to the students. The candy was purchased, with postage stamps and script, for the civil war was in full swing and the government had issued the script to relieve fin- ancial stress. The hours in the Cass school were quite different from the present set-up, for all the students lived within walking distance from the school and could go home for lunch. There were classes from a quarter before nine to twelve in the morning and from a quarter to two to four in the afternoon, with fifteen minutes recess in both halves. The boys and girls of the school sodded the lawn and set out trees to make their campus more beautiful. They also put an American flag from a pole on top of the school. For one reason the boys living on Michigan Avenue had a grudge against the Cass students, and woe betide the boy who had to stay late at school - he was sure of beating unless he was a good runner. Mr. Harlow Ollcott, was principal of the school for four years and gave the school quite a reputation for its discipline. After a tempestuous period caused by the irate temper of its first principal, the old school came into its second period of development. The area around the school became the residence of Detroit's finest citizens. The cowpastuers gave way to elegant homes and the old school expanded from a twelve room structure into a 22 room building. For thirty years Cass school was the mecca of thou- sands of Detroit citizens, seeking training that was ex- celled in no other part of the state. The calibre of train- ing of Cass boys and girls has never been questioned, due to the high grade of teacher employed at the school. In 1872 some Cass boys got together and began the first baseball team in Michigan, which became the champs of Michigan a few years later. They were also pioneers in the field of school athletic spirit. After forty years the neighborhood around the school had changed. Boarding houses stood where once were fine homes. Something had to be done to retain the prominence of Cass in Detroit's school history. Well do Mr. W. E. Stirton and Mr. L. Jennings remember when Wales Martendale, for whom Martend.ale Avenue is named, decided that Cass was to become a commercial and mechanical arts school. Mr. Martendale, superin- tendent of schools at the time, felt that students were droping out of school too soon. New plans were drawn up and the first classes entered in September, 1907. The basement of the First Presbyterian Church was rented for labs and art rooms. Money was appropriated in 1908 by the city council and the cornerstone of the Cass Tech- nical school was laid. When completed, Cass consisted of the old building plus the new addition. The Board of Education installed a two years business course, which enabled students to take a business course and get a diploma in two years. Then came a disaster on the night of November 16, 1909. Fire destroyed the old building but the new ad- dition was saved. Perhaps those Cass students were the only ones to have the students dream come true - his school burning down, and with it all the school books!! As soon as the shock of the calamity to the old build- ing had passed over, and school had resumed in the ad- dition and in a church at Woodward and Sibley Avenues, the council allowed S225,000 to build a new high school to completely cover the original site d.onated by Lewis Cass. This was called Cass Technical High School, built in 1912 - name changed to Commerce High later - and still standing. There is an old saying - Ulf ghosts could talk, what would they have to say. This can be answered in part by looking back into old school papers and yearbooks. The oldest record of published material in Cass are 1910- 1911 Triangles, printed before Commerce was built. At that time, and until 1919, the Triangle was booklet put out every three months, containing gossip, stories, jokes, and news of the various clubs and organizations. Also, there were ads, and some of those same companies that advertised in the 1911 issue of the Triangle are still i.1 existence. I-Iudson's, Wheyning Brothers, and Rayl's are three which have come down through the years. These ads give us some idea of the clothes of the times, and of the current slang . Familiar names pop up - 1915, Mr. Louis Jennings, now programming counselor at Cass. It is said of Mr. Jennings that he once fell asleep in class, and his teacher had to re-awake him. Then there is Mr. William Stirton, showing up first as a student writing inspired poetry, later as a physics teacher fthis is what happens to those seniors who don't graduatelj and later as principal. Mr. Navickas, first as a student and. then as teacher. Also John C. Lodge, late Detroit council- man

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FOREWORD We come to use our hands. King Richard II, Act III, Sc. I In the earliest of man's history, he spoke not with his tongue but with his hand. The hand was then the spokeman of the mind, setting forth ideas, beliefs, aspirations, and fears. As man's life grew more complex, the hand began to be used more and more for craftsmanship, carrying, hunting, and cultivating. Man found his hands full. No longer were they available for the conveyance of ideas. Gradually the hand yielding its position to the tongue. The hand then became the mind's implementa- tion, the means by which man's thoughts are trans- ferred into concrete realities. When man first con- ceived the idea of the wheel he built it with his hand, thereby, laying the foundation for all en- gineering and mechanism. When Thomas jeffer- son penned the immortal Declaration of Independ- ence, setting forth the origin and, just end of gov- ernment, he did so with his hand. All civilization is the product of the creative hand. The day of mere theorizing is past. Todayis ideas must be put into action to really count. Cass Technical High School was founded in recogni- tion of this. At Cass, we not only learn how to do, but also we practice doing. Our school devel- opes young men and women to enter those fields of endeavor which hold for them, the greatest hap- piness and for society, the greatest benefit. We, the graduates of today, hold in our hands the destiny of the universe. What we do with it will be determined largely by the training we re- ceive and the aptitudes developed today. There- fore, we, the 1951 graduating class of the Cass Technical High School have chosen the theme of this yearbook . . . the hand. TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication . . Administration . Retirements . . Seniors and Faculty . Literary . . . Sports . Homeroonis Organizations . Advertising . . 1 2 4 5 59 . 67 75 . 99 . ll3

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On the evening of September 30, 1912, a new phase in the development of Cass began. This was only a month since the new Cass had been built and on this night was the opening of the Cass Technical High school Evening School. The purpose of the school was to give the general public increase proficiency in whatever fields they were employed in during the day. The regular day school was in two parts - technical and commercial. The two divisions had their own principals and gradua- tions. After a few years of these crowded conditions, it be- came obvious that even with the new school, more rooms was needed. It was almost impossible to move through the halls during the passing of classes. There were twenty classrooms, which had to accommodate 1,500 students in one day. The two study hall combined seat- ed. only three hundred. The lunchroom was always crowded, even though there were three lunch periods fThis condition has not changed one bit since thenj. There were not enough lockers so hatracks had to be placed in the halls. They might have made good. hiding places when not wishing to be seen by a patroling teacher and you were A. W. O. L. from class. The whole problem was studied by Mr. Allen. princi- pal of the time, with the help of some architects. They drew up plans for the Million Dollar Annex . The proposed building was to be 200 by 300 feet in size. It was to be seven stories high and have five elevators. Students, then as now, could not stand the idea of walk- ing when there were elevators. The annex was to be built on the northwest corner of High Street and Second Avenue. Thus we have the first plans for the building which we now inhabit - Cass Technical High School. Plans were held up for a while, because of the First World War, but finally in 1922, the wonderful new school was completed. Com- merce took over the old building, and thus gave Cass the distinction of being the only school to have nurtured a school within itself. Later a memorial arch was built in honor of the Detroit high schooll students who gaves their lives in world war I. There were 67 students killed. The arch connects Commerce high school and Cass Tech, making it easier for Commerce students to come to Cass for lunch, probably causing the aforesaid crowded conditions in the lunchroom. The arch was designed by Mr. Ray, English teacher at Cass. During the building of Cass Tech, many interesting pictures were taken by the firm of Godfrey and Gross- man, Commercial Photographers. These show the de- velopment of the building itself from a maze of steel girders into the finished building we know today. They are also interesting, for they show the cars and the dress of the people of that age. During the time the school was being constructed, the Board of Education rentefl three houses for classrooms. These houses were on the north side of Henry Street, between Second Avenue and the western alley on that block. Later on, when not needed, these houses were torn down and parking lot put into operation. We hope that sometime in the near future, this lot shall be the site of Cass' athletic field. For labs, during this construction time, the Board rent- ed a large building on Second, between Beech and jones. This building was subsequently used as a supply house. Two years ago it was sold to The Detroit Edison Com- pany, who are tearing it down and using the space to expand. An interesting bit of information is related by Mr. Stirton. He says that the part of Cass Tech that is closest to Commerce was put up first, then the rest. You can tell which rooms are in which part: The rooms put up first use a two-pronged skeleton key and the later rooms use a three-pronged key. The progress Cass Tech has made from 1923 to 1951 has not been of the building kind, but more of courses and ideas. During the twenties their was a continuation school. This was part of the james Law which stated that if a student quit school at 16, he had to go to school one day a week until he was 17. This became impractical and was dropped. The Smith-Huges Act, a national act, stated that the government would give money for the starting of vocational training in public schools. Cass does not receive this but it was through this that an interesting fact was brought to light. Commerce is not the only school to have grown out of Cass. There are several: Wilbur Wright Trade, George Trade, the Nurs- ing and Pharmacy Colleges at Wayne University and several other trade schools. The Nursing and Pharmacy Colleges were transferred becaus they were of college nature. All of the faculty in these courses transferred to Wayne, also. Through the 28 years since the building of this school we inhabit, much has been done to make -the courses cover more ground, improve the faculty, increase the extra-curricular activities. Their are now 18 cur- riculae at Cass. They fall under three general headings: Art, Music and Science, and in these courses a student is prepared with the best technical training available. After graduation any student will be admitted to any college in the U. S., or he is ready for employment on a technical level. Our faculty is the best to be had, and even if we do gripe a little about this teacher or that one, we appreciate them. There are 32 clubs at Cass, falling into groups of: curricular clubs, special interest clubs and major clubs. An example of the first would be the Advertising Art Club, of the second., The Camera Club and of the third, the Student Council. It has been said that teen-agers are noisy, disrespect-- ful and devoid of morals, but somehow at Cass this does not hold true. Cass, our school, is a wonderful place to us. The walls are dingy on the outside with the smoke of some 30 years, the stairs have hollows worn in them from the shoes of hundreds of stud,ents hurrying to class and the desks are carved with the names of long-forgotten loves, and some not-so-long-ago ones. Still when we get our diplomas at the and of three years Qor maybe longerlj we know we are losing something irreplaceable. As an editorial in the Outlook stated, Cass is just a four letter word, but it can mean much - Citizenship, American, ambition and ability, Scholarship and Sportsmanship. Put them all together and they spell CASS, our school, and we're proud of it. ROSE ANN TENDLER.