Jefferson High School - Acorn Yearbook (Roanoke, VA)

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The Big Wheels... Mr. A. Gordon Brooks, Principal, and Mr. M. G. White, Assistant Principal of Jefferson Because we shall celebrate this summer Roa- noke’s 75th birthday, we at Jefferson have natu- rally looked back too with interest upon our small beginnings. We find that Roanoke High School was estab- lished in the fall of 1891 with twenty-three students, all girls, two teachers, and three rooms in the old Commerce School, which stood on the corner now occupied by the Post Office. For page two of the ACORN, Ray Johnson, has sketched a picture of Commerce. On the first of the class- work pages, we list some of the courses offered. Completion of all was required for graduation. Had our present unit system been in effect, twenty- four units would be the equivalent. The first graduating class, in 1894, was composed of seven girls. One member, Miss Alto Funkhauser, later taught at Jefferson and now lives in retirement at her home on Albermarle Avenue. As Roanoke grew, so did the high school. From three rooms at Commerce, it was scheduled to move in 1893 to the second floor of a carriage factory on Church Avenue. But, as bad luck would have it, the building burned the day before the fall term began. However, school opened on schedule in temporary Salem Avenue quarters. Then, back to an enlarged Commerce School. The next move, in 1899, was to a new high school now known as the Administration Building. Since the Auditorium-Study Hall directly faced the jail just across the alleyway, inmates and students had opportunity for a continuous exchange of greetings. In 1924, our present building was ready, and Roanoke High School changed its name to Jeffer- son. Now we’re busy with plans for our new Jefferson—of few steps, more classrooms, larger Auditorium, Gym, a cafeteria with windows and a campus. Now, sixty-three years after our first class of seven received their diplomas, we have a class of four hundred. As it has always been, the winning of that cherished diploma is still the goal of every student. June 7th will be the great day for the Class of 1957.