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

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DEDICATION To the v e r s a t i le , hard-working, all- around good sport, Floyd E. Radahaugh, we the seniors of 1950-51 dedicate this year hook. It was to him that we took our problems, students and teachers alike, and his de- parture is a loss which will he felt deeply by all. For his outstanding job 'cover and above the call of dutyii, he is to he commended, and evidence of his untiring efforts will remain at Cass as an incentive to others for many years to come. ,W .--1-ng,

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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.

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W. E. Stirton Principal Archie Witt Assistant Principal ADIVIINISTR TIO This copy of the 1951 Triangle represents the earnest efforts of a staff of your fellow classmates to compile a graphic presentation of your school year with particular emphasis on graduating seniors. If you read it through as others have done before with preceding Tri- angles, your first survey will be to identify classmates in their caps and gowns, in the various club and group pictures, or in the casual snap shots that are interspersed through- out the book. Meanwhile you Will be taking advantage of every op- portunity to get autographs to en- rich and personalize the record. Then I hope you Will read the Triangle again, and years later read it still again. It is my hope that this time you will read between the lines. Project into it the hopes and aspirations, the ambitions and de- derminations for the future. From such a reading should come increasingly the values of the pur- poseful functional educational pro- gram of Cass Technical High School. All about us we see evidence of increasing n eed for integrity, morally and scholastically. Let this Garner Bowlby Principal, Summer School , V A tv ' We 46 . , We W-ww f Floyd E. Radabaugh Administrative Assistant at school annual serve as a physical reminder of the educational values you acquired at Cass Teclmical High School in your various classes. and of your responsibility to make such values of service to your community. Let it also remind you of friend- ships which originated within the school which should be strengthen- ed as the years go by. May it al- ways remind you of happy days and may that remembrance be of even greater satisfaction in the years to come. W. E. STIRTON, Principal. Louis E. Jennings Counselor Olive Cobb Counselor