Matawan High School - Pillar Yearbook (Matawan, NJ)

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Good Old Days S3

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Matawan Schools: An everlasting tradition It is difficult to conceive the fact that Matawan Schools have existed for at least two hundred years. The first knowl- edge of any school in the area was found in the record of a road dated March 24. 1761 However, this does not eliminate the notion that schools may have existed even earlier A prominent Matawan townsperson named Asbury Fountain is said to have attended an old schoolhouse. around 1815. standing on a burial lot next to a Presbyterian Church in the vicinity of Keyport. This was probably the house from 1761 Around 1833 an effort was made to build a school in the center of Matawan. Stockholders paid for the construction of a forty-four by thirty-six foot, two story building which opened in 1834 and was called Middletown Point Academy. Middle- town Point Academy was used for a few years until it went private. Our present public school system dates from 1895. when established under an Act of the Legislature in 1894 which provided for consolidation of all school districts A new eight room building was erected at a cost of $16,000 to accomo- date students In 1908, a $22,000. four room addition was added as the number of children attending school grew. The first student graduated from high school in 1895 was F Howard Lloyd, Sr. The course he took was only one year in length, and he was in a class by himself. Soon after gradu- ation, he became highly influential in the positive progression of the Matawan school system Mr Lloyd became principal in 1919. succeeding William L Miller, who had been principal since the school's reception in 1895 The same year, as President of the State Teacher s Association. Mr Lloyd helped in getting passage of the teacher s tenure law by the State Legislature He left Matawan schools in 1922 to become supervising principal of the Middletown Township school system, where he accom- plished as much for their schools as he did for ours Matawan schools are among the oldest organized schools in the area In fact, in 1982, there were only four schools in the area listed as four year high schools. Matawan being one of them. It is also interesting to note the difference between teachers' salaries today compared with those around 1916. That year high school annual salaries were as follows. $925 for Science and Math; $800 for English; $725 for History and Algebra; $810 for Latin and German; and a hopping $1,525 for the principal. It seems that teachers have always been underpaid By 1924 a much larger school was needed, prompting the construction of a new building on an eight-acre plot at Broad and South Streets. The structure, of Georgian architecture, cost in excess of $175.000. It was two and one-half story brick building containing thirteen rooms, a study hall, an auditorium of five hundred twenty-seven seats, a special manual training and domestic science room, a lunch room, and a three-hun- dred seat gymnasium. This building still stands today, and plans for its sale, or possible destruction, are still pending. In 1963 our present school was officially opened Construc- tion of this building cost approximately 2.3 million dollars of taxpayer money and grants from the state Facilities in the school were comparable to any fine school in the state at that time. A new business wing was added in 1981 It contains a comprehensive library, typing classes, computer rooms, and Math and English resource rooms, enhancing the school s educational opportunities Presently, activities concerning high school matters are numerous. Plans to move the 9th grade to the High School have been made, as well as other reorgamzational changes within the entire school system Nonetheless the High School will continue to strive to maintain excellence sending produc- tive men and women into the world as Matawan-Aberdeen schools have done for the past century By G Heller 54