Lexington High School - Lexington Yearbook (Lexington, MA)

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Lexington’s first high school, opened on September 4, 1854, used for town meetings, social events, and High School classes. LEXINGTON HIGH SCHUUL In September, 1854, the first high school students in Lexington’s history mounted the steps to the second story room of the town hall. A large stove occupied one corner of the cramped school quarters. Throughout the winter months it consumed vast amounts of fuel, with which it succeeded in heating only a very small portion of the frigid classroom. Poor lighting and ventilation added to the discomfort of the class. Twenty boys and ten girls enrolled for the classes, a turning point in the town’s history. Latin, French, history, rhetoric, natural sciences, arithmetic, and geometry were the courses of study offered to these first high schoolers. The pupils’ original themes, often read aloud in class, were the béte noire of all. The first physics lab room in the The present chemistry lab and classroom 1885 addition to the High School. at the new Senior High School

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The new Senior High School on Muzzey Street, opened to over seven hundred students on September 10, 1953. 154 Although studies consumed a major part of school time, the students enjoyed some ex- tra-curricular activities which still exist today. ‘The Scholars’ Offering’, the weekly school newspaper, contained editorials, contributions from many students, and original art work by a talented class member. In May of 1855, for some long forgotten reason, the entire stu- dent body rose in rebellion. The student’s belief in their cause resulted in the recess of classes for a week. The manifest determination of Lexington High's first class has continued through one hundred years of the school’s growth and improvement. In the main room of the first High School. A typical classroom in the new building.