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

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Waiting for the bus after school were little more than a mass of trees and underbrush, it had been a place of repute in years gone by. It started out as a large stone barn built in 1774 and a red mill built in 1830. Gradually the Yeats Institute turned it into an Episcopal school designed to prepare students for the church ' s Holy Orders. For a time the school was moderately successful, but it closed in April, 1923, due to many difficulties. The buildings must then have lost their spirit if buildings ever do. During that time it was used briefly for an unsuccess- ful art school and as a police barracks. When the Board of Trustees considered it, it was greatly de- teriorated with some of the lawns farmed. The Board felt that the $43,000 asked for 88 acres was a bit steep, but the papers were finally signed, and a school was born. A supervising com- mittee and faculty were then formed. J. Paul Gray- bill became principal; Noah G. Good, dean; and Clyde Stoner, secretary-treasurer of the new school. Other teachers of the seven-member faculty included Lois Garber, Leah Kauffman, Edna Wenger, and John S. Wenger. Clean-up work had to be done before school could open. During the summer of 1942 much labor was done by volunteer help. By September 14, most of the weeds were pulled, the vines cut, and the broken steps repaired, and a new section of Lancaster Con- ference history was ready to be written. is Founded Sister Lois Garber as teacher of a 1949 nature study class 19

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The first graduating class The first faculty The debate ran on. When a vote was finally called, it carried by 51 to 49 per cent. Those visionary leaders with an eye to the future mentally sighed. By far the greatest work lay ahead. The start certainly was not very spectacular, but a start it was. A Board of Trustees, incorporated and given purchasing power, first proceeded to look for prop- erty. A piece of land called Hess Estate and an empty lot near Landisvilie were considered. Samuel Wenger, a Mennonite attorney, strongly advocated at that time the purchasing of a rather unexciting piece of property between the Lincoln Highway East and the Mill Stream. Al- though the land and buildings on it A School Noah G. Good, 25 years ago The Bishop Board had sent a recommendation to the semi-annual Lancaster Conference of 1940 to establish a high school, and now the conference was discussing it for the final vote. The Bishop Board at that time never sent recommendations to Conference unless the members agreed unanimously, but here at Mellinger ' s Mennonite Church the feelings were not so unifomi. The more pro- gressive leaders looking to the future saw Lancaster Mennonite School as a vital part of the growing educa- tion of the youth of the church; members opposed to the proposal cited it as part of a worldly trend. After all, what does higher education do but lead youth astray? 15

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The Pioneer Years, Writing histor) ' would most certainly have been presumptuous to describe the attitude of the school at its opening. Dean Noah Good recalls that there was some concern whether enough students would show up to start a school. The first senior class was much smaller proportionately than it is now. Although The first Mill Stream staff it Started out with only twelve members, it was soon enlarged to sixteen, bringing the total enroll- ment to 153. These first years were exciting years. Students arriving who belic ed themselves to be in for an ex- tended picnic were soon jarred into realization of the fact that the young LMS was striving for academic excellence. Near the school ' s beginning an editorial appeared in the Lancaster New Era voicing the hope that LMS would not neglect its agriculture pro- gram for all the good hard-working Mennonite farmers. From the very first, however, LMS has had, and continues to have, a very strong academic program. The LMS student during the pioneer years reflected to a large extent the Church. He was almost certainly from an agrarian background and was for the main part isolated and unsophisticated with reference to the world around him. TTie spiritual life of students ran very high from the very beginning. There was a strong revival and missionar) ' conviction upon the faculty and student body. Chapel was held at that time in the boys ' dormitory. Science and physical education classes were held in the g) ' mnasium building. Dean Good, who taught all the science courses at that time, recalls that when basketball was being played during chemistry laboratory Dorothy Hubcr (Rclfsnydcr) and Mabel Hemic)- (Weav- er) helping to build (he Girls ' Dorm in 19 ' 19 20