Lansdowne High School - Lahian Yearbook (Lansdowne, PA)

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LANSDOWNE NIR. F. S. l'NDl'RlllI.I., a member of the school board Illlfll'-0llC years and its president for sixteen. Tl1ese 111en had 111any hopes and high ideals which they wanted to see car- ried out. On June seventh, 1892, Lansdowne was granted a charter by the county to form a high school, which opened in September, 1892, with but three pupils. Their course included: geog- raphy, psychology, reading, aritlunetic, natural philosophy, penmanship, as- tronomy, and rhetoric, besides those subjects which are taught today. XVben music was added to the cur- riculum and the need for a piano was felt, the school resorted to entertain- ments and solicitations, since there was no money available for the pur- pose. In April of that year. Lansdowne High School became the proud owner of a piano. June, 1895, saw our first commence- ment, the biggest event in the town at that time. All the closed carriages and cabs in the livery stable were reserved for the occasio11. The con1n1encen1ent exercises were held at three o'clocl4 in the afternoon and continued to be held in the afternoon for about ten years afterwards. Both teachers and graduates sat on the stage, and each member of the Class of ,95 : Fmily Hibberd, Kate Robertson, and Kate Beadle, gave an address. The school board presented each of the graduates with a fine set of books. This class, like all succeeding it, had a senior dance. Two of the graduates, Miss Hibberd and Miss Beadle returned to the school in the capacity of teachers. Our second commencement was fol- lowed in the evening by dancing and class day exercises. That year three boys and five girls left our school as graduates. An Alumni Association was formed in june, 1896 and continued to exist until the first XVorld lVar. The first addition to our building was completed in 1896. lVith this came an improvement in the heating system. Formerly the school had been heated by coal furnaces, but in 1896 steam heat was installed. The second addition was completed in 1898, and the third in 1915. A fine rain did not prevent the citi- zens of Lansdowne fron1 filling to the bri111 the large school hall to hear the University of Pennsylvania Glee, Ban- jo, a11d Mandolin Clubs on December 17, 1897. After the musical was con- cluded, the chairs were cleared away and many stayed to dance until the late hour of ten o'clock. The proceeds from this entertainment went to the

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Our first school colors were lavender :vi BARBARA LoNr.Ac1uQ, in the place of Miss Groce, uses the old hand bell to call the pupils of the gay '9o's to school. College Scholarship Fund of Lans- downe Higl1 School which was the first fund of its kind in Pennsylvania. Tl1e Fund provided free tuition to an in- stitution of higher learning for a 111em- ber of the graduating class, selected by the school board. It is interesting to l f n yedferclay 4 cuafoma and gold, but they were changed to garnet and gray before 1910. The orig- inal colors can be explained by the fact tl1at the high school was at one time a branch of the Upper Darby School System. Our high school ath- note that fro111 its origin I, dm , letic associations were Lansdowne Hi h School 'X' E formed in 1 00' tl1 l g Aw ,JN 9 , eooys adopted the one session 'S Ure if, in March, and the girls' plan. Accordingly, the 'X in june. Before this, all school l1ours were from ' N gpgrtg were intramural, nine 11ntil two with a 1' H ' ll and perhaps those en- fifteen-minute recess at 'M ,XJ vfixf 5. if joyed most were the field noon. In tl1e first years of fl i L T events held each spring. our school, teachers, in- stead of pupils, went fron1 one roon1 to another. Another rule that would hang over us like a dark cloud, if it were in existence today, was that a breach of good manners was considered as serious an offense as a neglected lesson. Therefore, if a pupil so much as laughed at a fellow classmate when he made a mistake, he was sent to the office and dealt with accordingly by the principal. The pun- ishments in the early days of the school were detention and depriva- tion of privileges. Only one boy was whipped because of his impertinence. Salaried coaches and equipment were not pro- vided by tl1e school, but on May 8, 1900 a musical was given to uniform our baseball team. In that same year, the school participated in its first in- terscholastic contest. This was a base- ball game with Radnor. All the pupils and teachers who wished to attend hopped into four horse coaches which were gaily decorated with flags and pennants. Many spectators took their lunches along. Programs were special- ly printed for the game. Our Hrst school paper, The Stylus, made its debut in 1901. It was edited