Eastern District High School - Eastern Senior Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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Scene in Girls, Lunchroom-1910. 4This is the main lunchroom today. Boys had a Separate lunchroom until the l9I50'S.P lffourlcsy uf Hiklyn Daily Eaglvl Eight 1913-World War I Mr. Frederick Paine leading: hoys of Ifastern in parade down Fifth Avenue. This house and garden once Stood on the site of the present Eastern District Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library -Division .Xvenue and Rodnev Street. IBVHWI Daily' Eagle! ,- Sketching from Life-1913 Daisy Art Club under direction of Miss lVlanahan. .

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s I f- . X , -5 A Elf? -as. X LJ ' at Remembrance of Things Past The day was cold, even for February 5, but you found it pleasant to walk down Driggs Avenue in the frosty air, to stroll casually and look about you at the wagons racing by as their drivers urged their horses on. You wondered what the world was coming to. Those speeding horses were certainly dangerous. Suddenly there was a terrihc noise, or a series of noises like rapid-hre explo- sions behind you, and, as you turned to look, you knew from previous experience what to expect. There it wasione of those new-fangled lrorseless carriages, or tutomobiles as they were being called, tearing down the street at what looked like lr miles an hour at least. You watched it in disgust as it tore by, and turned up your nose at the horrible stench its exhaust pipe left behind it. Of course, the rutomobile w as only a ridiculous fad but you wished people would get over it soon. As you pushed your finger between your neck and your stiff collar to relieve the pressure of the front collar button a bit, you noticed a girl approaching you. urckly, you gave your tie a necessary tiny adjustment and tipped your bowler hat as she passed by, smiling slightly. llncommonly pretty. you thought, and very well dressed. 1900 was certainly an interesting time in ladies, fashions. As you twirled your cane and gently patted your moustache, you thought again of the pleasing picture sho had presented in hir Gibson clothes, with that large hat and the huge bunch of attractive feathers on one side, her flowing sleeves and skirt, her tiny vvustline and her delicate walk. Ah, yes! Here it was-that school building at So. 3rd St. and Driggs Ave. EASTERN DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL it said above the front door. It was three o clock so it was not surprising to see that door open and the children come pouring out Pouring was the word. Nothing else could describe the huge multitude that suddenly hlled the street. You found it quite possible to believe, now that you had seen it with your own eyes, that 300 pupils actually did attend the new school. No wonder they needed 1111 teachers and all those rooms you had heard about- 10 classrooms and a huge basement used as a lurrchroom, bookroom, gym, and musrc room. Our casual stroller on that February day in 1950 must have been even more amazed at the Worldis increasing speed when he discovered, a few years later, that Eastern District High School had found it necessary to go on double session and rn addition use that basement for five classes. But even these measures proved inadequate and Eastern acquired her first annex, McCaddin Hall, which was the scene of her first Commencement in 1904. Sixty-five students were in the graduating class, and history records the fact that Ida H. Harrison was awarded an Alliance Francaise medal at the graduation exercises. lt was the bridge, the magnificent new Williamsburg Bridge that opened in 1903, that was responsible for more crowding at Eastern District. This new traffic artery brought many people to settle in Wiilliamsburg, people who could see what Seven

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the bridge would mean in terms of increased opportunity in trade and industry. So it was that in 1901, Eastern acquired an annex at PS. 143. But the bridge kept pouring more people into this rapidly developing section of Brooklyn and, with the inauguration of trolley service over the bridge in 1905, the population influx really hit its stride. There were no two ways about it. The new school needed a new building and the cornerstone of the present Eastern building was laid on June 26. 1906. With appropriate ceremony and speeches, a copper box was placed inside the cornerstone. Some future archaeologist will. perhaps, discover it some day and perhaps he will find its contents interesting: records of the Board of Education, newspapers. an American flag, and a Bible. The new school building was opened on February 3, 1908, and dedicated formally on October 16. ln the same year, elevated train service over the new bridge went into operation. The world was certainly rushing at a dizzy pace. The automobile was proving to be more than a passing fad. Horse-drawn trolleys were giving way to electric ones. W0mCl17S ankles had begun to appear in public. The pace was getting terrihc. Life at Eastern. too, was getting more complex. Five courses were being offered: the classical. the Latin. the scientific, the modern language. the English and the commercial courses. Numerous clubs were being formed. all enthusiastically sup- ported. Dr. William T. Vlymen, Eastern's First principal, found his school growing by leaps and bounds. In 1924. Princeton Lniversiiy conferred honorary degrees on a number of notables, among whom was our first principal. Dr. Wm. T. Vlymen. L. to r.: Frank Calvin Roberts. Michael 1. Pupin. Edward Robinson, Sec'y. of State Chas. Evans Hughes, President Hibben, Ambas- sador ,lohn Wm. Davis, Chas. Albert Coffin. Philip Ashton Rollin, Wm. T. Vlymen. Nine