Germantown High School - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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by Mr William T Tilden member of the Board of Educat1on who was very largely responsible for bringing the high school to Germantown Dr Martin G Brumbaugh former Superintendent of Schools and at th time Governor of Pennsylvania made an address on the historical associations of the locality where once lived Pastorius Dr Witt arid Chr stoph r Sower The girls and boys of the annexes took part in the exercises and placed in the cornerstone mementoes of the days when they were the fore runners of the great school that was to follow the new building was to have been completed by September 1915 but although the school now began its s parate existence as a high school with Dr Harry F Keller as principal and Miss Marv S Holmes as assistant to the principal for two months it continued to function in the annexes running two sessions a day and in some cases two classes in diff rent subiects in the same room at the same time However on November lst the building was sufficiently completed for occupancy and on that date 800 girls and 550 boys b gan their high school careers in the new building Until February 1929 when the school became co educational the girls occupied the west end and the boys occupied the east end of the building and woe betide the girl or boy who was found on th opposite side of the building The first class of 27 boys was graduated February Qth 1917 ln Iune of that year the first combined class was graduated To date Clanuary 19361 39 classes with a total of 5390 girls and 3318 boys have been graduated lt s quite evident therefore that a high school was needed in this locality and the establishment of Germantown afforded an opportunity for many to gain a high Before Boxborough Gratz and Olney High Schools were opened the school was very much overcrowded numbering at one time over 4400 students and having a fa ulty of 150 members At that time there were two annexes of Germantown on in the Harmer School on East Haines Street running two sessions a day and the other running a morning session in the Howe School near Broad Street and Olney Avenue On February 5th 1024 Dr Keller the first principal passed away very suddenly a loss keenly felt by the student body the faculty and the com munity Dr Keller had b en very much interested in establishing a Scholar ship Fund which had been ra1s d from different sources On Dr Kellers passing however a committee of the faculty was appoint d under whose direction the fund was increased to the sum of S514 750 by means of which Germantown girls and boys have been assisted to the ext nt of S1000 in one year The fund is now adm1n1stered as the Harry F Keller Memorial Scholar ship Fund On February 18th 1924 Dr Leslie B S ely was appointed to the principal ship and has ably fllled that pos1t1on since then Under these two men and educators the school has had an honorable existence During the World War th r was a splendid response from both faculty and student body Those who remained at home did their bit in other direc tions ln the Liberty Loan Drives th school obtained subscriptions of over S32 300 000 more than any other school in th country So 1n athletlcs in dramatics in scholarship in its contacts with the com munity along many lines Germantown has fulfilled the functions of a high school 9 1 1 - , ' , e ' ' ' , . ' , 1 1 9 ' . ' . . rw I I J' I I . , 9 , , , A . . 11 I I A . I . . . V . . 9 . . , V I 9 V I I I - I I 1 . . A 9 , . ' ' , 1 school education otherwise denied them. . C , ,N I . . . 2 ' ' , ' I A I I ' . . . D . , , V . . 1 t 3 . Q 3 . . . A 4 D - 1 . , , ' e .

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t l Alter Twenty Years WENTY FIVE yea s ago tne Board ot Educatron estabhshed two annexes 1n Germantown one tor the q rls rn ta butldrnq ot the Younq Repubhcan Club on Germant wn Afenue above Walnut Lane wrth Mlss Mary S Holmes rn charge and the other for the boys rn the annex ot the Germantown Boys School on West Harnes Street wrth Mr Samuel E Berger rn charge The alrls school was an annex of the Wrlllam Penn Hrqh School after ward of Phrladelphla Grrls Hrqh School whrle the boys school was an annex ot the Central Hrqh School After two years rn the annex q1rls were p rmrtted to qo e1ther to W1ll1am Penn or to Glrls Hrqh School for qraduatlon and the boys after spendrnq a year ana a halt at the annex were permuted to enter C ntral Hrqh or Northeast Hrah School for araduatron These temporary quarters were of course very madequate and ID October l9l2 the Board ot Educahon decrded to bullcl a hrqh school 1n Germantown After consrderable controversy the s1te at Ger'nantown Avenue and Hrqh Street was selected On September 26th 1914 the cornerstone ot the new bu1ld1na was lard t Y , , , ' A . .., .. , K3 , 1 no v A . . Q T , . , I . . , J , , ' ' A e T , , . . as

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The Art Theme EMORY is the treasure house of the rn nd wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved Fuller lt is the purpose of the art theme to create in the hearts of these January 1936 graduates some of whom may leave our city never to return a memory of the famed Wissahickon Creek An appreciative approach to this marvel of nature is best obtained through a bit of its early history The white man found it while paddling along the eastern shore of the Schuylkill River During the first one hundred years of its written history the creek was not navigable because of a large boulder of rock at the mouth Later this was removed The first house to be built on the Wissahickon was the Rittenhouse Home between the years 1688 and 1690 ln 1694 lohn Kelpius a mystlc p1et1st came with his followers to the Wissahickon to meditate and pray They lived in a hermitage until Kelpius aeath in 1708 A generation later another colony of hermrts occupied the Monastery But they too passed on after a few years The Rittenhouse Home had by this time become a prosperous paper mill Several other mills gradually were erected and all were equally busy An important part of the Battle of Germantown was fought on the Wissa hickon ground which adds greatly to its historic background But now we see a lapse of years beginning with 1778 when the Wissa of the last century that the romantic discovery began By 1826 the present road along the east side was cut through to the Rittenhouse Mill and gradually the charms of this beauty spot were unfolded The public however did not show much interest Fanny Kemble a famous actress and a brilliant and beautiful woman is given most of the credit for the romantic discovery of the Wissahickon ln 1832 while playing at a theatre of the city she rode on horseback several times to the mouth of the creek She became mstantly enamored by its lovely sentrrnental riches and she sang and wrote about it Several famous writers and poets for example Poe and Whittier were inspired by th creek The first attempt on the part of the city government to preserve the Wissa hickon was in 1873 when the Falrmount Park Commission by the Act of Assembly was required to protect the cr ek and the beauty of its scenery forever Smce then improvements have gradually been made and are still being fostered Down through th years the Wrssahickon has been brought to us to be enyoyed May the few sketches presented here bring recollections of the miniature Alp ne gorge l 1 1 l I I ' - i ' 1 1 , . . hickon seemed to pass into seclusion, and it was not until the early twenties , . ' ' e . , A S ' - Q A A 1 ' -t 34a ' l t 1 t 1 1 l