Hammond Technical Vocational High School - Chart Yearbook (Hammond, IN)

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I red S Barrows was the founder and first director of Tech. At top of page is sketch of the C entral School Building as it stood on the corner of llohman Avenue and l ayette Street. Mary Dwyer was Tech ' s first teacher.

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1919 to 1922 The Tiger Tale Began As Students Eagerly Responded To What Tech Had To Offer! Tech students, right from the school’s first days, seemed eager to train for jobs in this industrial community. When planners presented new courses, quick response for enroll- ment caused school population to grow from one student in 1919 to nearly 2000 students in the 1960’s. Course work was at first just part time to assist students who had to work. First offerings included such classes as blueprint reading and typing. Then came others — forge and foundry, machine shop, shorthand, business ma- chines. Also flourishing over the years was an impressive array of academic classes, required and elective. On and on classes and shops were added until at its peak Tech offered nearly twice as much as the ordinary high school. Tech also developed a highly successful athletic pro- gram. Its social life was enhanced by many extra-curricu- lar organizations. A chronology of important times in Tech ' s history fol- lows on this and other theme pages: 1893 — Hammond Central School was built on the corner of Hohman and Fayette where the Calumet National Bank now stands. It housed elementary . . . also high school students. When the high school outgrew this building, it moved to a new building on Calumet Ave- nue and was called Hammond Industrial High School, later shortened to Hammond High School. 1919 — Great need for a vocational school also became apparent. Mr. F.S. Barrows started a vocational school later called Tech in an attic room of the Cen- tral School. To begin with’, there was only one teacher, Mary Dwyer, and one student. Max Dcmps. Demand for enrollment grew and so classes were organized for girls in the afternoons and for boys in the mornings. In those early days students went part time, two days a week. Mr. Max Dcmps. Tech ' s first student as he was pictured in the 1 959 Chart.

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1923 to 1949- Growing Student Body Trained in Increasingly Inadequate Facilities; Plans For a New Tech Took Shape! 1922 — In September, Tech was formally organized. 1923 — The Central School building was moved from the corner of Hohman Avenue and Fayette Street to 231 Russell Street where it was to house the “new” Tech high school. 1925 — A new building was constructed in front of Central building and the two were connected only by a passage- way. The Girls’ Department occupied the new building and Boys’ Department the old. Boys’ and girls’ classes were separated and remained that way until Tech was reorganized in 1959. Nineteen twenty-five was also the first year for a yearbook — then called the BROWN AND GOLD. 1926 — Increasing enrollment necessitated the starting of Tech’s Cafeteria. 1927— 50 — Continually increasing enrollment caused the school to “spread out.” Auto shop moved across the alley; Sheet Metal and Plumbing shops moved to Fayette Street, and Auto and Aviation shops moved to a vacant building across the tracks on Russell Street. There were other “borrowed” buildings in Tech’s life including gym facilities. Tech students and faculty dreamed of a new and adequate school building. 1933 — Mrs. Barrows, wife of the principal, started a soup kitchen for needy students. 1934 — Mr. Barrows in a radio talk: Tech objective was “the making of dependable men and women from boys and girls who enter at fourteen.” 1939 — State and local fire inspectors termed Tech a “fire trap.” The need for a new building became more and more apparent. 1939 — Hammond Times headline: See no funds for new Tech school building. 1940 — Tech Varsity Basketball Team did the impossible: they won State Crown despite severely inadequate gym facilities. 1940 — American Legion Post 16 presented Tech with an American flag and a school flag. 1941— The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Many for- mer Tech students went to war. 1941-45 — Tech shops trained over 6000 persons for war- time industries ... in “round-the-clock” instruction. 1945— The Indiana State Legislature acted to give defi- nite assurance that there would be a new Tech building as soon as wartime restrictions on building materials were lifted. 1947 — After much controversy, Civic Center site was picked for the new Tech. 1948 — Ground breaking ceremonies were conducted. 1949 — Cornerstone Dedication speakers included Patri- cia Evoy, president of Tech’s Student Council; Mrs. Kreyscher, chairman of Tech P.T.A. Building commit- tee, and Lee Turner, Tech alumnus.