Granite City High School - Warrior Yearbook (Granite City, IL)

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Out of the Past the Present HISTOR Y OF GRANITE HIGH In 1898, the first high school was established in Granite City in a small frame church, the Kinderhook Church, located on what is now the Emerson School grounds. This was the year that Granite City was incorporated as a municipality. In 1903, the enrollment was 10 boys and 18 girls. As the population grew, the high school was moved to the second floor of the McKinley School building, and then to the building currently occupied by Central Junior High School. By 1913, the high school had five teachers and one principal. By 1919, this building had become so crowded that the school was run in two shifts. On September 26, 1921, the high school was moved to the central, or academic portion of the present building, which was constructed in 1920, on the Fehling tract site. En- rollment at the time was 425 students. On January 26, 1921, the first class of eight boys and eight girls graduated from the new Community High School, a four year insti- tution. It is interesting to note that in 1925, our present principal, Mr. Lawrence C. McCauley, was President of his senior class of 56 students. In 1930, the enrollment was up to 964, and by 1940, it had increased to 1638, but from 1940-1945, it remained fairly constant, due to World War II. The auditorium was added in 1924, the rear central wing in 1927, and the vocational wing in 1928. In 1940-41, a wing connecting the vocational and academic areas was built. The Memorial Gymnasium was built in 1956. This was followed by two new classroom wings in 1960, and finally, the new cafeteria building was added this year, 1966. The high school campus consists of an area of 27 acres, which is shared by Coolidge Junior High School, fronting Nameoki Road. The Community High School had as Superintendents, Mr. W. F. Coolidge, Mr. Virgil BufTord, and Mr. Paul A. Grigsby. In 1950, the high school was incorporated into Community Unit School District 9, becoming a three year senior high school institution. It has had as Superintendents, Mr. Paul Grigsby, Mr. Harold Kaiser, and Mr. Russell D. Johnson, our present Superin- tendent. Mr. Russell D. Johnson and Mr. Lawrence C. McCauley have served as Prin- cipals. Mr. Steve Jones and Mr. Tom Noeth are Assistant Principals. The office force consists of four secretaries, aided by voluntary student help. There are 1 1 1 teachers, two librarians, 12 department heads, eight counsellors, one nurse, 22 custodians, and 22 cafeteria workers, providing a staff for 2620 students in their sophomore, junior and senior years. Of these, 725 will be in the graduating class this year. Out of the past, we have built the present, Granite City Senior High School, 1967. 14