Lowell High School - Red and White Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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DECEMBER, 1926 The RED E99 WHITE SUB PONDERE E CRESGT E The hope of Truth grows stronger, day by dayg lhear the soul of man around me waking, Like a great sea. its frozen fetters breaking, And flinging up to heaven its sunlit spray, To sing huge continents in scornful play, And crushing them, with din of grinding thunder, That makes old emptinesses stare in wonder: The memory of a glory passed away Lingers in every heart, as, in the shell, Resounds the bygone freedom of the sea, And every hour new signs of promise tell, That the great soul shall once again be free, For high, and yet more high, the murmurs swell Of inward strife for truth and liberty. -JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. lvl

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The RED E99 WHITE DECEMBER, 1926 THE HI T089 01' l0VIElL HGH The Union Grammar School was established in San Francisco in 1856. This was really a secondary school and its students were destined to form the nucleus of the Lowell. The pupils were eighty in all, and were chosen from the most advanced classes of the grammar schools. lt was under the direction of Principal Ellis H. Holmes of Massachusetts that the subjects mathematics, science, history, Latin, and Greek were taught. On June 8, 1858, the Union Grammar School was reorganized into the San Francisco High School, and at the same time its curriculum was increased. In the meantime the Board of Education purchased a building on Powell Street between Sacramento and Clay, and equipped it for a modern high school. The 6th of September, 1860, the San Francisco High School was formally dedi- cated: the Rev, Thomas Starr King was principal speaker of the day. Again in June, 1864, a change occurred in the organization of the school. The boys and girls were separated: the girls were transferred to a new building at Stockton and Bush streets, while the boys remained in the original building, now renamed the Boys' High School. Mr. Minns, a former fellow student of James Russell Lowell at Harvard, was now made principal of the Boys' High School. Because of increasing members, the Boys' High School was transferred, in 1875, from Powell Street to Sutter Street, between Gough and Octavia. Then, in 1887, since the classical languages which were necessary for admission to the university had been discontinued in the Girls' High School, girls were admitted to the Boys' High School. During the same year the school was renamed Lowell High School. Finally, in 1912, after repeated reorganization, our present build- ing was dedicated, retaining the name of Lowell. During the following years, under the guidance of Mr. Frank Morton, who had succeeded Mr. Minns, Lowell made rapid progress in her scholastic and ath- letic standards. The curriculum was also altered so that four years was required of the students instead of three. Very early in Lowel1's existence publications were edited, the first being The Lowell, in 1898, a journal of school life and activities. At the same time the Athletic Association organized. Mr. Morton was succeeded by Mr. Clark, who was a pupil at Boys' High School, and was also for many years teacher at Lowell. The name Lowell interprets: Loyalty, Opportunity, Energy, and Love for fellow students. 161

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The RED EG? WHITE DECEMBER, 1926 A Message from Mr. F. H. Clark M9 . SCHOOL and CITY We count the years of the Lowell High School from 1856, the date of the establishment of the original high school in San Francisco. Seventy years: and who, if not THE RED AND WHITE, shall recount the events of our lifetime or hand down the memories to those who come after us? This year, 1926, has seen the celebration of two great anniversaries-the sesquicentennials of the independence of the United States and of the beginning of San Francisco in the foundation of the missions, events at the time separated by the width of the continent, but now brought together in the mighty stream of American history. Lowell and San Francisco, our school and our city: the one name brought to us from the Eastern seaboard, with its heritage of brilliant scholarship and social and political leadershipg the other cherished as our birthplace and home. What can this issue of THE RED AND WHITE contribute to the credit of the school and the honor of the city? One must honor both or neither: they cannot be separated. Athens, rallying from defeat and strengthening herself against Macedonian dangers, turned to her youth verging on manhood for the defense. Beset by no such outward perils, San Francisco, however, rests her hopes for the future in the honor and the integrity of her valiant youth. Equally, our school and our city need the devotion of the students and of citizens. As something to recall in times of temptation and stress, THE RED AND WHITE takes advantage of this noteworthy year and offers to the student body of Lowell High School this slightly modified translation of the old Athenian oath: We will never bring disgrace to this, our school, by an act of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our comrades, we will uphold the ideals and sacred things of the school, both alone and with many: we will revere and obey the city's laws, and do our best to incite a like respect and reverence in othersg we will strive unceasingly to quicken the general sense of public duty, and transmit this school greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us. -MR. F. H. CLARK. ll 8 ll