John Graham High School - Warrentonian Yearbook (Warrenton, NC)

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Mr. John Graham 10

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Warrenton Male Academy Warrenton High School was an outgrowth of the Warrenton Male Academy which was chartered in 1786. It really came into being in 1898 when Mr. John Graham and Mr. Harry Watkins became joint principals. A year and a half later Mr. Watkins resigned, leaving Mr. Graham as sole principal. This was not the first time that Mr. Graham taught the young people of Warrenton. He had taught at the private school in the home of Rev. C.M. Cook of Warren County and had been principals of the Warrenton Male Academy and Fork Institute, also in Warren County. Warrenton High School was for years a power in the land. Mr. Garham had associated with him an excellent staff of teachers. As the number of pupils increased, Mr. Graham made proportional additions to his school. The football and baseball teams formed were among the finest of the state. “Whether in or out of the schoolroom, Mr. Garham was a master of the situation. The students responded to his instructions and absorbed the lessons taught. Outside, his broad intellect encircled nature, divined its laws, conceived its purposes, and reduced its forces to the control, and for the benefit, of man.” It was no wonder that our school was named for this fine principal.

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In 1857, students attended the school from ages six to eighteen in a one room small frame house. The students were taught by only one teacher. The school, now a free school, contained benches for the students with small boards upon which they studied. When the war broke out in 1861, the school year was shortened to twelve weeks. There was not enough money to pay the teachers’ salaries which was about twenty dollars. After the war, the students resumed their studies. The teachers’ salaries still continued to drop. In 1895, teachers received $19.94 monthly for a 2% month school p eriod. Soon the school year increased to seventeen weeks. In 1904, Mr. Nat Allen became County Superintendent of Schools. In 1905, the people of Warren County were startled with the news that the school term would begin on January 2 and end on June 30, six whole months. In 1906, a new public school building was erected on Fifth Avenue (now Church Street) and from that time the public school progressed rapidly. A number of local people taught at this school including Miss Mariam Boyd, Miss Nan Jones, and Miss Kate White Williams. The public school occupied this building until 1918. At this time the school was moved to the Academy, which was under the principalship of Mr. John Graham and was operated by him until his failing health made it necessary to close it in 1920. It remained here until the spring of 1921, however, more plans were ready to begin a new Warrenton School on this site which had been used for educational purposes since 1786. The students and teachers returned to the location of Fifth Avenue in the fall of 1921 and remained there until 1923 when they occupied the new modem high school building. At this time the building on Fifth Avenue was sold to Mr. H.P. Reid, who remodeled it, and is now occupied by Mrs. Reid. In 1924, the name of the new school was changed to John Graham. In 1928, an Agricultural Course was organized with Mr. Bob Bright as instructor. This, with the Home Economics Department, made up the vocational school at this time. Two years later, in 1930, a building was erected to house the Agricultural Department with showers and locker rooms for the newly organized football team. The Athletic Department with Mr. Jimmie Mayfield as first director, was started in 1930. Since then there have been many outstanding teams at John Graham. The football team of 1947, one of the most outstanding in our school’s history, was coached by Mr. Simon Terrell.