DeWitt Clinton High School - Clintonian Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

Page 27 text:

when They learned ThaT The new building was To have I25 rooms, and The largesT high school TaculTy in The world. They said iT was a wasTe oT money, ThaT iT shouldn'T be done. BUT iT was done, and The new school was consTrucTed aT 59Th STreeT and lOTh Avenue. AlmosT im- mediaTely iTs classrooms were Tilled wiTh sTudenTs. Dr. Buchanan conTinued as principal unTil he passed away in IQO8, aTTer devoTing eleven years oT his liTe To De WiTT ClinTon. ln his place There came The principal oT Commerce l-ligh, Dr. John L. Tildsley. T-le musT have TelT relucTanT To accepT ThaT posT, Tor Commerce and ClinTon were sTrong rivals in aThleTics. IT a Clin- Ton Team wenT Through a season wiTh- ouT a vicTory and Tinally deTeaTed Com- merce, iT was considered a successTul season. Such was The siTuaTion as Dr. Tildsley arrived To Take reigns. BuT de- spiTe The biTTer anTagonism beTween The Two schools, The new principal was soon beloved by all. l-le perTormed his Task well Tor six years and many new acTiviTies were Tounded in ClinTon dur- ing his sTay. lvlr. ArThur A. Boylan Tounded The grandTaTher oT The presenT General OrganizaTion. The ClinTon News and The ArisTa SocieTy were Tounded. Many oTher new clubs, socie- Ties, and organizaTions were esTablish,ed during The period in which Dr. Tildsley was principal. I9 I4 and The TirsT red book appeared. Dr. Tildsley reTired To make way Tor Dr. Francis l-l. J. Paul. The greaT war had 23 lodgcizogrgy .gjguadl uernfieg .gjguacl l9an-AmWim C746 11 -1 u nw

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CKCLJJ Kommiffee Cgnfon Commiffee mougfadfi Sociefg LeT us sTudy The ClinTon SpiriT which has also developed over These TiTTy years. LeT us look back To l897. Qriginally called Boy's l-ligh, The school opened in ThaT year and was soon accommodaTing over 500 sTudenTs. A public high school was a novelTy and an early Tailure was expecTed. BuT To The surprise oT all, Boy's l-ligh prospered. Under The direcTion oT iTs TirsT principal, Dr. John T. Buchanan, The school grew unTil an annex was opened. Boy's l-ligh soon made iTselT TelT in The Tield oT sporTs, Tor iTs baskefball guinTeT and TooTball Team romped To many vicTories over surprised opponenTs. The skepTics were a biT shaken and doubT was re- placed by respecT. Boy's High had won iTs place among high schools. A Torerunner oT The ClinTon News soon made iTs debuTg The TirsT ciTy high school paper was snaTched up by The sTudenTs. BuT The building was small and cramped condiTions resulTed as The en- rollmenT Tigures reached 2,000. ln l900 Boy's l-ligh became De WiTT ClinTon l-ligh School To avoid conTusion beTween iTselT and Boy's l-ligh oT Brooklyn. WiTh The new name came more and sTill more sTudenTs. Annexes were going up all over The place To Take The overTlow Trom The main building. Finally in l903, The Board oT Educa- Tion announced ThaT The old building, which was siTuaTed aT 60 WesT l3Th STreeT, would be replaced by a new and bigger school. People were shocked 22

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cgfagan CM ,HQLPQLU Cd! sTarTed and ClinToniTes were engaged in raising money Tor l.iberTy Loans. Funds Tor The red cross and drives To purchase ambulances were on The mind oT every sTudenT. ClinTon became more acTive as The U. S. enTered The Tray. The number oT gold sTars increased one The service Tlag and sTudenTs redoubled Their eTTorTs. ArmisTice . . . vicTory . . . back To school. WiTh The war ended, Dr. Paul seT abouT making his dreams Tor a new building come True. For, The building ThaT had caused a Thousand shouTs oT impossible and wasTeTul had served iTs purpose. IT was overcrowded and in- adeguaTe Tor The Thousands oT sTudenTs enrolled. Under The direcTion .oT Dr. Paul, a new building was planned and consTrucTed. l-le had argued wirh sTub- born legislaTors unTil his dream was a realiTy. BuT The sTrain was Too greaT, and six weeks beTore The sTrucTure was To be dedicaTed, he died oT a hearT aTTack. Mr. A. MorTimer Clark replaced him and plans Tor beTTering The greaTesT secondary school in The world were under way. T934 Tound I2,000 sTudenTs in ClinTon and iTs annexes. BuT The an- nexes were soon dissolved and sTudenTs and TaculTy alike realized ThaT such a huge school had iTs drawbacks: The con- TacT beTween sl'udenTs and Teachers was limiTed. ClinTon moved on. The Trophy case was Tilling as The red and black Teams made Themselves TelT in every sporT. 24