Central High School - Zenith Yearbook (Duluth, MN)

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balance! Recon! A magnificent stone Central High School which was destined to become one of Duluth's outstanding land marks, was built in 1892 according to the plans of architects Palmer and Hall. Many considered the building The Finest High School in the World. High school classes had been held in the city starting in 1873 in the Washington School which stood where Central now stands. ln 1887, the building on First Avenue East, which is now the Board of Education, was used as a high school. However, the 1894 annual explains the situation: Accommo- dations soon growing altogether insufficient, the Washington building was taken down brick by brick in 1890, and the splendid structure in which we now pursue our studies erected upon its site. Up to about twenty-five years ago, Central was famed for its prominent tower which could be seen far across the city, its wide halls and sweeping stairways with iron bannisters of elaborate design, its large ornate chandeliers, and its beautiful stat- uary placed throughout the rooms and halls of the school. Today, most of these symbols of olden days have disappeared to make way for continued modernization, and only the tower remains. During the summer of 1923, classrooms were built in to re- place part of the wide curving center stairways. Students returned to school in the fall of 1925 to discover that part of the freshmen class was to re- main at Washington Junior carrying out the new three year iunior and three year senior high school courses under Leonard Young, Superintendent of Schools. This removal of the freshmen to Washington continued until 1927. East Junior High School was built in that yearto accommodate the increasing en- rollment. ln 1925, a lunchroom in the school basement was also opened with food sold to students in Cafeteria style. Another important improvement which students

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.feillead m rqfumni One of Central's most loyal and outstanding alumni is Dr. William A. Coventry, orator of his graduating class, now a well known physician and surgeon of the city and a prominent figure in state and national medical circles. Dr. Coventry, who, as the Duke of Duluth is the leader of the city's good-will ambassadors, addresses the following message to the readers of this annual: HDear old Central High School! And I mean it. Never have I lost interest in Central since my graduation in 1895. In our class there were twenty girls and twenty boys, who are now spread to all corners of the world. All of them did well in their chosen careers, all in their own niche. How the school has grown, until now, every corner ofthe building is occupied in some useful effort to evoke future citizens and to improve mankind! No longer can the class oratorl' of 1895 have the entire thirdfloor in which to preparefor hisfinal oration. Students will be as I was, taking Latin 1 a second semester in order to pass thefirst semester's work. Custance didn't care. What mattered most was the will to take the subject over. The new world to come, the adjustments of this war, will unfold many new problems that the grad- uates of Central will be able to take and when called upon to do their part they will be able to make satisfactory adjustments.--Enough for now. Cheer, Cheer, the gang's all here. - lV. A. Coventry, DCHS l95 elf Pk Pls The noted author and lecturer, Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning, who, as a student at Central had some of her first literary works published in the Zeniths of that time, once more writes for the Zenith, this time a message in which she recalls her own high school days at Central: It is during the years spent in High School, I believe, that the pattern of an individual's life begins to take such definite shape that a boy or girl can see the design. At least it was that way with me. My education in Duluth Central High School must have been a soundfoundationfor I based my college work on it with little trouble. But I remember very little of what I actually learned in High School classrooms with the exception of Latin. That was taught with such terrific force and vehemence by Professor A. F. M. Custance that I have never been able toforget whole sections of Caesar and Cicero. What I recall chiefly is the beginning of an active choice among all the subjects that could be studied and learned, and especially the conscious desire and intention to know more about the literature of the world. I remember, too, how lost and small andfrightened andfreckled Ifelt atfirstamongso many students, and how gradually I acquired a place of my own and enough confidence so that even thefreckles didn't bother me. It is in High School that a boy or a girl consciously begins to choose friends, instead of merely knowing the children of his neighborhood. If you are like me, you may have entered Duluth Central High School as a scared child. Four years later, you may come out as I did, with a working equipment of ambitions, ideals, andfriends. I assure you that, with luck and determination, you can keep the best of them for a lifetime. Margaret Culkin Banning :lf Ik Pls Sidney Buchman, of Columbia Mojion Picture Studios in Hollywood, achieved national honor with his writing of the script for the academy award picture Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Mr. Buchman sends his alma mater this message for its golden anniversary: It is pleasant and stimulating to cast back in memory nearly twenty-five years to my graduation from Duluth Central High School. I have an active remembrance of those years, and a persisting sense of gratitude to that school. I recall the natural democracy of the Duluth community, reflected in Central High itself, where students of many nationalities and races, their parents foreign born, grew to know each other in a tolerance of human kind that was instinctive and easy. Casting back now, in the light of the worldls present problems, that seems the most vital lesson I unconsciously learned. For that I am very rate ul. g jlt seems proper to add in passing that in my experience during those twenty-five years I have become convinced that the educational standards at Central, assuming they are as high today if not higher, have not been exceeded by those of any other high school in our wonderful country. Please keep Central the place I knew, and please keep our country as wonderful as wefind it now. Sincerely yours, Sidney Buchman t 6

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had long hoped for was the addition in 1926 of a north wing with more classrooms and far greater gymnasium facilities. ln the summer of 1939, the latest modernization took place. The wooden floors of the school were re- placed by hard finish composition ones and built-in lockers were installed in the halls. The following summer the entire school was remodeled. The graduating class of 1894, numbering thirty- two students, published the first yearbook called the Tiger, the title being changed to the Zenith in the following year. In 1894, Central's first newspaper also appeared in the halls. lt was called the Junior Record and was published by the iuniors as an exhibition souvenir to visitors of the Junior Exhibition which was to be held that evening. That paper was the forerunner of the Spectator in the magazine and newspaper form. The Spectator itself was started in 1922-23. The four hundred students enrolled in 1894 were offered five courses: classical, literary, scientific, general, and English, which were taught by the teaching staff of fifteen. The courses in the school curriculum have altered considerably and students now choose from a general academic college prep- aratory, Smith-Hughes trade, or a business course, . taught by a teaching staff of approximately ninety members. Mr. E. F. Lohr was the first principal and R. E. Den- feld, for whom the Denfeld High School built in 1926 was named, was the Superintendent of Schools in 1894. The Board of Education and the superinten- dent's offices were then housed in the new high school. Physical culture was instituted in the high school in 1902, although Mr. Max Alletzhauser had been in charge of physical training in all the schools of the city since 1892. The senior class of 1904 announced that they left a new gymnasium, manual training room and chemistry laboratory. Calisthenics were introduced into the curriculum the next year. In 1905 the school year was shortened to nine months and the school hours were changed. Mr. Young, later Superintendent of Duluth Schools, came to Central as principal in 1911, when the school passed the 1,000 mark with an enrollment of 1129, lincluding freshmenl. A. M. Santee became Central's principal in 1924 and was replaced in 1939 by G. A. Beck, the present principal. Agriculture classes were organized in 1914 with the construction of a greenhouse. The following year