Kenton High School - Echo Yearbook (Kenton, OH)

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1939 to 1963 The third Kenton High School was opened in 1939 on a ten acre site on Orien- tal Street It was a large and modern build- ing with sjyace included for special areas of the curriculum such as instrumental mu- sic. vocal music, vocational agriculture, woodworking and a small library. It had its own gym and cafeteria. The sports facili- ties adjacent to the school were donated by the Robinson family in honor of General James S. Robinson, a civil war general and Kenton resident. The high school princi- xil. Mr. Secoy, planned and supervised the work on this athletic facility. Football games were nou played on the new field and the Kenton band expanded and took on the look of what we now call a marching hand. At the south end of the field was the F.F.A. memorial gate The new building also had modern science labs for the ex- panded science curriculum. The building cost $300,000 to build and contains 354.000 bricks. 129720 feet of electrical wire. The early 1960's brought even more students and the Imilding was “twice as full of stu- dents as it was designed for. In Ocotol er of 1963 the present Kenton High School building was ready to move into. Grades ten to twelve moved into the new Imilding and grades seven to nine moved into the old high school. This grade alignment was new and Kenton now had a Senior High School and a Junior High School. The old Ellis building was closed soon after and sold to the Hardin County District Lilnary board to use as a building site for the present library. The new school cost $1,678,000 to build. The building con- tained special areas for vocational educa- tion, science lalts, a language lab. a gym that seated over 2,000and a large cafeteria. The curriculum contained over 100 course offerings for students to chose from. The building has been very well maintained and fs serving its students better than most other buildings its age. 1981 marks the change from Kenton Senior High School back to Kenton High School as grades nine to twelve will again be housed in one build- ing. The class of 1981 will be the 111th graduating class of Kenton High School. 1963 to PRESENT History of Kenton High School — 5

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KENTON HIGH SCHOOL 1870 to 1896 The first building to house Kenton High School was the Central Union building lo- cated at the corner of N. Market Street and W. Carroll, the present site of Oaklief School. It was an imposing structure for a city of unpaved streets, with a large cen- tral belfrey and four corner towers. The building housed all grades of the school system with the high school program be- ginning about 1865. It had a large assem- bly room on the third floor where daily chapel programs were held at the begin- ning of each school day. The first graduat- ing class was in 1870 with one graduate. Miss Martha Ellen Leighton. The curricu- lum of the new high school was one of preparation for attendance at a liberal arts college. Those students not going on to col- lege usually ended their education in eighth grade. The Central Union school cost $12,000 to build in I860 and served until the night of January 9. 1899 when it burned taking with it all records of the early Kenton school system. In the early I890's the enrollment at the Kenton High school began to grow and it was deemed neces- sary to construct a larger build- ing. The North. South. East and West elementary buildings had already been built to handle the increasing number of elemen- tary students. In 1896 the new Kenton High School was opened and the Union building became the Kenton Grammar School for grades 6 to 8. The term high school meant that a person went beyond the eighth grade. • ■HfOH UNION ICMOOll « «» 0 IMO l t«V U«IO ■» The new or second Kenton High School was opened on January 10, 1896 and was located on the comer of N. High Street and E. Columbus Street. It was built of sandstone and brick at a cost of $50,000. It was three stories tall with a large central auditorium for the daily chapel programs. While this building was used as a high school the sports program was begun with teams in football, basketball and later base- ball. track, tennis and girls basketball. In the I920’s the state of Ohio passed a com- pulsory attendance law thus keeping stu- dents in school longer than usual. To ac- commodate this large number of students the basement of the school was remodeled and four portable buildings were placed behind the building to provide more class- rooms. These portable rooms were heated with pot bellied stoves tended to by the teachers. The curriculum was expanded at this time with the addition of vocational 1896 to 1939 agriculture, woodworking, home econom- ics, business courses and later physical edu- cation and instrumental music. Physical education classes were held in the armory as there u'as no gym. Sports events were played at the old waterworks park in South Kenton. Graduation was held in the Grand Opera House in downtown Kenton. The high school received its state charter in 1922. In the middle 1930's this building was filled to overflowing and the need for another new high school was evident. 4 — History of Kenton High School

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KENTON HIGH SCHOOL MASCOT Alto's Findlay's always favored The Colors gold and blue, And the gentle sons of Marion. To the Red and Black are true, Still our staunch and hearty laddies. Will always bravely fight. For the honor and the Glory, Of the dear old Red and White. Thru the four long years of high school. Mid'st the scene we know so well, As the mystic charm of knowledge We vainly seek to spell. Or we win athletic victories And work with all our might. Still we work for Kenton High School, And the dear old Red and White. When the cares of life o'ertake us, Mingling fast our locks with gray. Should our dearest hopes betray us. False fortune fall away. Still we banish care and sadness As we think of memories bright, And recall those days of gladness, Neath the dear old Red and White. —Unknown 6 — Kenton High School Traditions The nickname ‘ Wildcats origi- nated sometime in the early 1920’s according to the account given to the yearbook staff by for- mer principal, Mr. Carl Russel. According to Mr. Russel, a Mr. Elmer Tam was a vocational agri- culture teacher who was also the faculty manager of athletics. The Ixisketball teams of 1924 and 1925 were very successful and Mr. Tam organized a post season tourna- ment with several other teams, to be held in Kenton. The Kenton team won the tournament and made a large sum of money for athletic teams. Mr. Tam suggest- ed that the school should have a nickname or mascot and suggest- ed the Wildcat. He described the animal to the student body and explained why he felt it would be a good choice. The students must have agreed with Mr. Tam as in publications the next few years the name of Kenton Wildcats became commonplace. Another version of the story has it that Mr Tam was quoted as saying after a tournament game, those boys sure played like a bunch of wild- cats. Which ever story is correct, it seems that Mr. Tam can be giv- en credit for suggesting the name of Wildcats for Kenton High School. KENTON HIGH SCHOOL COLORS RED AND WHITE The poem at left is reprinted from the 1906 Echo, the first year of publishing, and gives us proof that the school was using red and white as school colors by that year. In the early days of Kenton High School, each class, upon entering the high school, would choose its own col- ors, song, motto, and design a crest. There were no official school colors, song, etc. As each class graduated, their symbols were replaced by the next class. The oldest symlx)l we can find proof of is the use of red and white as school colors. No amount of re- search or interviews with former students was able to turn up the story of their beginnings. One pos- sible suggestion is that they are a carry over from the old Kenton Reds baseball team. The earliest mention of school colors is in arti- cles dealing with football games. There are several passages that talk about playing for the red and white. The poem we have printed is further proof of the school colors being used around the turn of the century. Since these early days, every imaginable item that could be made red and white has been made and many former students have collections of school treasures they look back on with fond memories. Research for the articles on pages 6 t- 7 was done by Tony Hattery and Deanna Wolf.