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

Page 33 text:

was admitted to the University upon the ptincipal's cer- tificate. But the high school must be accredited. This meant very complete and rigorous investigation of the actual teaching procedure in the schools by members of the University faculty. As the University at that time maintained not merely one, but three, and later four, sets of requirements, the planning of studies in the high school became more complicated. The Boys' High School was one of the first three to be accredited. QUp until this system was set up, it was not neces- sary to finish 'high school in order to get into the University of California. Numerous ambitious Boys' High students took the university examination before graduating from high school and in several cases even succeeded in gaining sophomore standing at once. Many of the brilliant Boys' High students are not list- ed in the class lists in this book because they were able to continue their higher education without 'waiting un- til graduation time.j Following Mr. Blackburn's resignation, James K. Wilson, principal of the Lincoln Grammar School, was given the high school post. At this time the school was organized into three departments: Classical, Latin- Scientific, and English. It is also the period in which the high school starts to look upon college preparation as one of its principal functions. More and more stu- dents entered the school with their ultimate aim a col- lege degree. fDuring the next several years other secondary schools were established in San Francisco to take care of other needs than college preparation. In 1884 a Commercial High School was established. In 1894 its name was changed to Polytechnic High when manual training was added to the school program. The Com- mercial High School which later became Commerce High School opened in 1900, Cogswell Mission High operated from 1890 until 1892. It reopened in 1898 as Mission High School. QNO other high schools opened in San Francisco until 1921 when Galileo High started. In 1928 Bal- boa High School opened. The last two San Francisco high schools to be established were George Washing- ton High in 1936 and Abraham Lincoln High in 1940.1 In 1888 Principal Wilson resigned from Boys' High to become president of a local bank. Frank Morton, a Latin teacher in the school was promoted to principal, a post he was to hold for 30 years. A year before this, girls had been allowed to enroll at Boys' High School in order to take such college prep courses as Latin and Greek, which had been discon- tinued at Girls' High. Under the circumstances a move was started to give the school a title other than Boys' High. In 1894 the name of the distinguished poet, educator, and diplomat, James Russell Lowell, was substituted for Boys' High. Without any ceremony the new name, Lowell High School, appeared on the Sutter Street building. In 1889 the high school had been enlarged to take care of the increased enrollment. However, the increase in size didn't enhance its beauty, according to John F. Swett, Lowell '97, recalling his impressions of the school: The building which reflected the spirit of the times in regard to school architecture, simply ignoring the aspect of a school, was painfully plain. We would call it a warehouse today. It had a frontage of about 100 feet on Sutter Street and extended north about 75 feet, with three stories, wooden throughout and no architectural adornment whatsoever. Grim and forbidding, it reached its gloomy, 'barn- like silhouette amid an otherwise rather attractive SURVEYING CLASS - 1890 Included in the surveying class of 1890 were, left to right, Walter Terry, Will Drew, Bert Hawks, Walter Burner, Abe Bienenfeld, Tom Eagleson, Albert Chandler, Eugene Holmes, Charles Week, and Martin J. Heller. JACOB SAMUELS WILLIAM W. SANDERSON EDWARD E. SAWYER JOHN H. SCHUTTE ARTHUR M. SHARP FRED F. SPRINGER JAMES J. THEOBALD JOHN F. UNDERWOOD EMILE B. VILLAIN JULIUS WANGENHEIM BRYANT L. XVATERHOUSE CLASS OF MAY, 1884 C. A. ADAMS M. A. ARTIGUES R. S. ATKINS F. H. BEAVER C. S. BLOOM S. H. BOARDMAN J. F. BONNELL F. T. BOWERS B. BROOKE L. L. BROWN W. V. BRYAN S. W. CLARKE C. F. DAMKROEGER T. D. DAVIDSON T. H. DOANE W. B. FIELDING M. GERSTLE L. GREENEBAUM B. HART S. M. HELLER H. M. HOLBROOK F. W. JACKSON M. KOSHLAND F. D. MADISON E. E. MANHEIM A G. . MERRILL A. B. MOULDER H. C. RAY T. C. RETHERS G. H. RIDDELL H. D. ROGERS F. P. SHELDON A. L. STETSON E. J. STRAUSS T. B. SUTLIFF C. E. TURNER S. S. WALLER H. E. WISE W. A. WISE WM. F. WOOD, JR. CLASS OF MAY. 1885 J. B. BATTEN J. M. BREWER J. A, BROSNAN L. E. CHENERY c. B. CLARK L. cook H. J.. coRDEs W. T. CRAIG J. 1. DELVALLE c. J. DURBROW J. A. EPHRAIM s. ERLANGER W. GERSTLE J. H. GovE M. L. GRUNBAUM H. GRUNDEL J. U. HALEY c. P. HANLEY 1. R. HASKIN W. H. HOLLIS c. E. HOLMES A. c. HooPER E. HousToN G. H. T. JACKSON H. J. JORY W. H. KESSING G, E. KINCAID E. P. LANDON ,Ep R. LASTRETO . LAZARUS G. K. LENFESTEY J. J. LERMEN F. M. MARTIN G. B. MCDOUGALL A. C. MCFARLAN S. MEYER F. D. A. MURPHY G. P. NEPPERT S. NEWMARK C. A. NOBLE A. PAINTER E. D. PEIXOTTO G. C. ROEDING F. ROSS T. A. ROTTANZI H. SACHS S. SCHWARTZ L. SINCLAIR N. SINCLAIR E. D. SWIFT S. J. THEISEN M. P. TOPLIZ

Page 32 text:

KEIZO KOYANA WILLIAM C. MARTIN CHARLES WALTER MARWEDEL CHARLES A. MCDONALD HENRY MEYER WILLIAM GORDON MUGAN FREDERICK PATEK EDYWARD PUTNAM ALBERT RAYMOND GEORGE ROTHGANGER MAXIMILIAN SALOMON WALTER A. SCOTT LUCIUS L. SOLOMONS GEORGE B. SOMERS CECIL STEWERT ABE STERN FRANK T. WAY CLASS OF MAY. 1882 GAsToN M. ASHE CHARLES L. BIEDENBACH G. F. BIGELOW GEORGE D. BOYD ARTHUR cAsTELAzo JOHN W. CLASSEN THOMAS E. CURRAN FRANK G. FINLAYSON FRANK FISHER CHARLES F. FITTZSIMMONS HARRY L. FORD JOHN F. HARROLD LINCOLN HUTCHINSON MELVILLE KLAUBER LOUIS KOHN BEVERLY LETCHER I. N. LIPMAN HERMAN MARKS FRANK W. MCEWEN JOHN MCMULLIN FRANK M. MICHAEL BEVERLY Y. MORRIS WILLIAM F. MURPHY JOHN N. POMEROY WILLIAM RIX LOUIS A. ROSENTHAL FREN. WILLIAM SEIBEL WILLIAM C. SHARPSTEIN JAMES H. STACK MICHAEL D. STEIN J. B. T. TUTHILL JACOB WAND ALFHONSE D. WEIL HENRY M. WHITELY HORACE M. WOOLLEY CLASS OF MAY, 1883 Boys WALTER J. BARTNETT GEORGE WALKER BATES JOHN F. BAUER CHARLES BISAGNO MILTON E. BLANCHARD RICHARD F. BOYLE SAMUEL G. BUCKBEE ISSAC CITRON CHARLES H. CROCKER ARTHUR D. CROSS SAMUEL S. CROWLEY JOSEPH H. CUNNINGHAM CLIFFORD A. DAVIS EUGENE J. DE SABLA, JR. J. WALLACE F. DISS SEWALL DOLLIVER GEORGE J. DOWNING PIERSON DURBROW PATRICK H. FARRELL CHARLES S. FAY WILLIAM E. FITZPATRICK JOHN L. FLAHERTY THOMAS F. FLEMING THOMAS A. GAMBLE JOHN H. GRAY, JR. WILLIAM L. GREENBAUM WARREN C. GREGORY JOHN F. HARPER RICHARD C. HARRISON WILLIAM C. HAY ANGELO M. HEVERIN WILLIAM KAHN WALTER KAUFMANN FRANK A. KINNE FRED S. LAFFERTY ROBERT S. LAMOTTE JOSEPH LANDO STEPHEN T. MATHER W. CLARENCE MCCULLOUGH BENJAMIN MCDOUGALL ADOLPH C. MILLER EDWARD F. MORAN OSCAR C. MORGAN SIGOURNY B. MORSE WILLIAM L. MURRAY JULIAN F. NEPPERT HARRY BOWEN RATHBONE HENRY RHINE EMMET RIXFORD BENJAMIN ROMAINE JOHN J. RUDDOCK 28 2-?f !4 .fff f .-'ff ,!,f' . M- MZ ------fr-iff TI' I If ,.,.-ff n'MT:1iii?f',, .. A U: .,,,.,.-f y-',,-f--f A,,.,,M:f-' A .--' ,If ,,..f J f Boys' High School after it had been enlarged in 1889 to take care of the increased enrollment. though several of the students had continued their education by going East for college work. Instead the school had been Considered as a final preparation for life. Principal Mimms served only one year before re- turning to his previous home in Massachusetts. He had been held somewhat in awe by the students because of his personal acquaintance with the great literary fig- ures of the day. He had attended Harvard with James Russell Lowell and had Oliver Wendell Holmes for a professor. Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, and the Alcotts' were numbered among his friends. Theodore Bradley, a mathematics instructor at Boys' High, was made principal of the school. William T. Reid took over the principalship in 1875 and served in that capacity until 1881 when he resigned to accept the position of president of the University of California. Shortly after Mr. Reid started his prin- cipalship, the Boys' High School moved to a new lo- cation. In january of 1876 the school moved into a new three story structure on Sutter Street between Gough and Octavia. The new site covered all of a 50 vara lot, twice the space occupied by the Powell Street building. Another change during the Reid period was a divi- sion of the curriculum into a Classical Course and an English Course. Frederick H. Clark, later to be prin- cipal of Lowell High, was a student at this time. He described the course of study as follows: At this time the school was organized into two de- partments which might have been two separate schools so far as the daily life of the students was concerned. There were the English Department and the Classical Department, in each of which a rigid course of study was maintained for the three years. I enrolled in the English Department, but later, on my own accord, I sought the opportunity for training in Latin, and with the never-to-be-forgotten assistance of Mr. A. L. Mann, I carried on the study of Latin and Greek in addition to the regular studies of the English course. The basic studies in the English course were mathe- matics, Science Qphysics lirst and chemistry second, biological science being unknownj, ancient, European, and English history, and either French or German. Our course in English literature was mainly limited to Studying about authorsg any broad acquaintance with their writings was left to our own initiative. United States History was considered a grammar school study. There was an option course in bookkeeping given after 2:30 o'clock, so that if you 'wished this course you remained for a later dismissal. Many did so. In the Classical Department, Latin for three years and Greek for two years replaced much of the Science and all of the modern language work of the other de- partment. Most of the students in the Classical Depart- ment were looking forward to the traditional Bachelor of Arts courses in college. After the resignation of Mr. Reid, his brother-in- law, Francis A. Blackburn, who had been a Latin and Greek teacher in the high school, was elevated to the position of principal. He remained as principal until 1886 when he resigned to accept a professorship at the University of Chicago, which had just been estab- lished. i In one of his graduation addresses Mr. Clark men- tioned an event that took place under Principal Black- burn: An important step in the relation of high school to the University was taken in 1884, when the University of California established the accrediting system. By this system, a graduate of an accredited high school

Page 34 text:

R. E. F. TRAUTNER s. M. VAN WYCK, JR. F. J. WAIZMAN W. B. WATERMAN F. L. WHARFF A. C. WIDBER J. WOLF CLASS OF MAY. 1886 JOHN Q. ADAMS FRANCIS C. BAILEY WILLIAM D. BALL NICHOLAS BEATTY J. R. B. BOCKMAN CHARLES J. BONNELL DUNCAN J. CARY ROBERT T. CAUGHLAN GEORGE S. CORBELL CHARLES A. DEANE LYLE A. DICKEY FRANK W. DOUGHTY ALEXANDER FLETCHER WALTER F. GRIER T. BYRON HARKER M. L. HASKIN PHILIP HYDE ALBERT F. INCELI. JAMES J. LAWLER ISIDOR S. LESZYNSKY WILLIAM A. MEYER DANIEL A. PECK GIUSEPPE PEIXOTTO ARCHIE R. PIERCE HERMANN L. PROSHOLD BENJAMIN F. RIDEOUT W. A. ROWELL GUY R. SANCHEz JOSEPH SHELDON SOLOMON B. SICEMAN JOSIAH P. STOKES FRANK T. SWETT SAMUEL N. WALTER MARK H. WEAVER JACOB S. WEIL ROBERT EMMET WELSH GEORGE WILLES LAWRENCE F. WILSON NORMAN L. WILSON SAMUEL S. WOODS, JR. JOHN WORLEY FRED O. ZIMMERMAN CLASS OF JUNE. 1887 MILTON H. ATKINS WALTER BACI-IMAN ALEXANDER A. BERGEROT ANSON S. BLAKE CHARLES R. BLAKE GEORGE C. BOARDMAN, JR. HENRY BRODEK CHARLES H. BUCK JULIUS I. CAHN JOHN J. CASSIDY EDWARD L. CULIN JAMES W. DEALY CHARLES L. DOYCHERT ALBERT L. EHRMANN THOMAS E. EICHBAUM ROBERT BRUCE ELDER M. P. FLEISHMAN ROY GALLAGHER SAMUEL L. GOLCHER EDMOND GROS ALBERT W. GUNNISON SAMUEL W. HELLER FRANK T. HITTLE LESTER H. JACOBS HENRY KUGELER ROBERT L. MANN FRANK B. MARKS JAMES J. MCCARTY WILLIAM S. MCCLURE GEORGE O. MCMULLIN JAMES D. MEEKER HOWARD MELONE ED MOORE W. G. MORROW WM. G. MURPHY THOMAS W. RANSOM W. S. QUINLAN JOHN G. REIGER JOSEPH P. SCHULTZ LOUIS A. SCHWABACHER ALBERT W. SCOTT, JR. JOHN W. SLATER BURBANK SOMERS CHARLES F. STONE FRED R. TEMPLETON FRED WEIL W. H. WEISHEIMER EUGENE zEILE 30 group of homes. A dingy front door, rarely used, stood at the head of a short Hight of wooden steps which creaked painfully when visitors ventured upon them. The girls used a narrow side entrance on the west and the boys a passageway on the east leading to the school yard, a drab place, all Hoored over with rough boards, with sheds on the rear for protection from the rain. High board walls surrounded it as if to make any outlook or escape impossible. The exterior of the building was covered with rusty gray paint, darkened by the years, and I doubt if it ever had been repainted. It looked, when I entered in 1894, at least 50 years old although it had been used only 19 years. There were 12 classrooms, four to a Hoot. Desks were of pine, greyish brown in color, and much scarred by the jack knives of industrious students striving to leave to posterity the initials of their names, and some of these names became very famous. The desks were bolted to the floor and each had an ink-pot, as foun- tain pens were a rarity at that time. The blackboards which Surrounded the rooms were gray rather than black and erasers were worn by a decade of use. The teachers, desks were Small and plain with an opening in the middle, giving us an excellent view of the teacher's feet. One teacher, I recall, had unusually large ones and he had a girl in the class make a calico curtain to shield them from public view. There were no charts or maps and the walls were bare and unattractive. No flowers were ever seen in this gloomy building. Mr. Swett was sure that the academic advantages by far outnumbered the physical ones. THIRD CLASSICAL JUNIOR During the Morton period the school took on many of the characteristics that mark the present day school. This was the era in which an interscholastic sports pro- gram came into being, extra-curricular clubs were rec- ognized as part of school life, school publications be- gan, and a new teacher-pupil relationship was estab- lished. Regarding the latter, former principal Clark recalled: Under Mr. Morton, the general methods of discip- line were transformed. The old mechanical system of checks and demerits, of fixed penalties for petty of- fenses, was abandoned. Students were given to under- stand that they were expected to be responsible mem- bers of the community. If one'S behavior proved that he could not be accepted on this basis, the case was taken up as a vital matter of personal character and reputation, and as far as possible the co-operation of the home was enlisted in the procedure toward im- provement. Thus the school changed over from an in- stitution of autocratic authority, manifested through set rules and formulas upon a theoretically passive body of pupils, to a 20th century co-operative commu- nity, the autocrats gradually replaced, and the Student body growing into conscious activity. The forerunner of the present ROTC made its ap- pearance in the '80's. The organization, known as the Cadet Corps, was started by William C. Sharpstein Qlater to become a well-known San Francisco attorney? in 1882. At first it was a volunteer company without uniforms or rifles. After joining the National Guard, the State of California furnished the group with blue uniforms such as the Union infantry had worn in the - LOWELL HIGH 1893 Bottom row: Samuel Weil, Abe Rosenberg, Melville Lubosch, Harvey Marnir. Row two: I-I. F. Hamada, M. Blank- enstein, John McKee, Nathan Cahn, Honser Borishey, George Cleary, Henry Miller. Row three: Olga Von der Leith, Guerdon Hitton, Abbie Sheridan, Edna Aldersley, Florence Wyman, Grace Merry, Calbie Plunkett, Maggie Kennedy, Edith M. Pooley, Nettie Forbes. Row four: john Varney, Wm. Ede, Robert Hector, Lou Bell, Wm. Leurs, Mathew Harris, Wendell Brooks, Frank Dowbrowsky, Zerah Y. Howard, joseph Mathews, Robert Coulter. Top row: J. Rosenberg, Martin Meyer, Bailey Terrill, Emil Peters, McDonald, Sigmond Hess, Wfalter Rogers, E. Ferrea, Abe Meyer, Ernest Brand, Wesley Scott.