Lancaster Mennonite High School - Laurel Wreath Yearbook (Lancaster, PA)

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1942 -1962

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W TWE TIETH The year was 1942. It was a cool, crisp September day on the campus of Lancaster Mennonite School. Voices of 153 happy pupils were buzzing everywhere. At last the campus was ringing with the laughter which had been gone for twelve long years. What drought had dried up all the laughter for so long? In 1857 the Episcopal Church began the Yeates School for Boys. The school was a center of activity and life for many years. But, due to a number of financial and management difliculties, the school needed to be sold. In May, 1930, it closed its doors. The campus was then annexed to a farm. A farmer cultivated his corn between the Administration Building and the Mill Stream! The remainder of the once beautiful lawns grew up in weeds and brambles. Meanwhile the Lancaster Conference was facing a decision. Wishing to found a church-sponsored high school, they were looking for a suitable location. Finally they chose the former Yeates School as the site and pur- chased it in 1941. Many people considered it a dubious transaction. One lady even warned the school authorities that it was too humid along the Mill Stream! The pupils would all become ill! Nevertheless Lancaster Mennonite School oflicially, though a little hesitantly, opened her doors for the first time in September of 1942. The years had almost completely eradicated the traces of a former school. One of the only signs remaining was a Latin phrase still scrawled on a blackboard. What a first year! Only six teachers and 153 students assembled for chapel in Rooms C and D on those first days. Only sixteen seniors gathered around the tables in their dining hall, now our library. A choice of two curriculums-the academic and the two-year Bible course-was offered to the students. Health periods were held in the room which is presently our study hall, then their gymnasium. Dirt paths accommodated them from building to building between classes. And, due to a shortage of personnel, a senior boy acted as hall manager in the boys' dormitory, at present the Administration Building. Of course, the tuition was fairly low. In 1942, day students paid S135 and donn students 3245. Yes, each student was glad to be a part of the new Lancaster Mennon- ite Schoolg it was a privilege!

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