Central High School - Centralian Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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EVOLUTION OF CENTRAL With the growth of Kansas City came the demand for a high school. The Board of Education realizing the need, purchased in 1867 the lot 24ox I32 feet on the southeast corner of Eleventh and Locust streets. At the time a two-story brick building of two rooms stood upon the lot. This was converted into a school and Mr. J. B. Bradley elected to take charge. For four years this building was used under the management of Mr. that the school facilities must be increased. For this purpose a lllllll umm, -A if the new demands, erected a three-story brick building, seventy-four feet square, on the south end of thelot. On each of the Hrst two floors were live class rooms with wide halls running the entire length. The third Hoor was one large auditorium with a seating capacity of five hundred. Before a year had passed the attend- ance grew to seven hundred, but for a while the school was made to serve their needs. In 1887 Mr. White resigned and gtdbd 1 ! Sim aff? O Q Shim 2:25 9409- n-A.,-A in ani' HH '.1'31O,Qh SNZ first, WU' aaa 0. gm .1 2591 Q TREE :Es .5 sn Q35 91:1- g.Q.L4 ,U. Ui'-I 5' on ass EMT L3 K4 dog D43 Omg 0 m 839 OW-10 5 a mm rodfl .W absolutely n e c e s s a r y. Five 'fig rooms of the old building on the one-story frame structure of I 7 north end of the lot were appro- three rooms just south of the K3 , .J 7545 , , V priated and a year later the . . K T -. ', M 9' l X school was pressed into service. V ,QW l 4 Whole WaS made an QHHGX fo In the fall of the next year Mr. i l , J ,591 l Q the School- 111 1391 OVCT One C. L. Sheffield was made princi- ,p H Q thousand pupils were enrolled. pal. For three years these two X hi - H That spring the people in the buildings were sufficient, but i 5 school district rising to the ww- then another change became necessary. The frame building was removed and the brick structure enlarged by addi- tions to the south and east. The school had then nine rooms and it was at this time that Mr. E. C. White Hrst became principal. As the school grew and improved, interest was aroused in the people and a desire for better equipments naturally followed. The Board of Education, to meet CENTRAL emergency, voted one hundred thousand dollars for a new building. Work was immediately begun. In October, an addition of eight rooms on the west sides of the old building was completed. Part of the Assembly hall was divided up and made into three large class rooms. For other quarters several rooms of the Y. M. C. A. building were secured and here the pupils who could not be admitted into the school proper were accommo- 18684877

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R x . ' 54-L'-Ss In f 1' a f ff M J A fx 4' -ge X 5 X' ' - S f eff 3 .- L x BOARD OF EDUCATION 'QQ Xl-. 4,3 ii?-, K f, N .I QI Organized April, 1904, for Two Years if, , K . A 14- -R 67 . 4f' MR. I. L. NORMAN, President QX O46 O gf? MR. MILTON MOORE MR. F. A. FAXON ' f 1 MR. GARDINER LATHROP MR. J. S. HARRISON ,pf MR. L. O. JAMES ,7 Ms J 1. ,fix , qu F MR. W. E. BENSON MR. E. F. SWINNEY ff K . dl T Q Secretary Treasurer xx MJ MR. J. M. GREENWOOD, Superintendent of Schools i i . b f h ' f S . Z. ,.u,,., - ev JL r .- K, - X 1 P rs ' ' 1 R 'Nxb Q G' 1' f ff -R. V-f A-ff X , S ' R ee WX R.

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EVOLUTION OF CENTRAL-Cont'd dated. In December, 1893, the new high school, which stands on the north end of the lot, was finished. It is separated from the original structure by courts forty feet wide and is connected on each iloor by an enclosed passage. There are three stories and a basement. On the north front is a tower one hundred and forty feet in height and on the southwest corner there is an observa- tory used by the pupils in connection with the study of astronomy. The revolving cop- per dome is of suiiicient height to enable the observer to survey the horizon in all directions. The interior of the building was arranged with an eye to the including both the old and the new buildings, there are forty-three recitation rooms. In 1897 Mr. Buchanan left to take charge of a high school in New York City. Mr.AE. C. White was re-elected principal but in 'or he resigned and Mr. I. I. Cainmaclz, then vice-principal, was made principal and still has charge of the school. What the school is today, what these men with the as- sistance of an able corps of teachers have made it, we all know. It has been the purpose of the Central high school to give a broad and liberal preparation for life, but the education has been more for i i . i 1-j d' I in W is il s l il l y il utilization of all the IOOI11 pOSSi- A3 - , a growth 0f Character and in- ' fx ' 'r-Ngiilx . . ble. On both the nrst and dividual strength than for a Second H001',1a1'gehHHS H111 the development of any particular entire length of the building. There are also on the first two floors large study halls, each of which is capable of seating more than two hundred pupils. The third floor, with the exception of live class rooms, was appropriated for a large Assembly hall with a balcony on three sides. In this auditorium more than seventeen hundred pupils can easily be seated. In the school, CENTRAL1875-1884 calling that may be chosen. More than twenty-tive hundred students have graduated from Central and these graduates are found today in every vocation and profession, demonstrating by their enterprise and intelligence their fltIl6SS to .deal with the practical affairs of life. ELIZABETH CLAY, Senior.