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Page 6 text:
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□ nee upon a time... The Milbank Public School System as it is today . emerged from a one-teacher facility in a rented or per- haps donated room as the town had its beginnings in eighteen eighty through eighteen eighty-one. An issue of The Grant County Review in eighteen eighty states that the first public school was held in the Review building, the present site of Maynes' Firestone store. June Smodley was the teacher and the school term consisted of three months, beginning December first. Plans for a permanent school, however, were made at a public meeting on July twenty eighth, eighteen eighty-one. This first permanent school in Milbank was located on the site of the present high school. The floor plan consisted of two lower floor rooms, one up- per floor room, and a cupola. The cost was five thou- sand dollars. With the growth in the number of stu- dents attending Milbank High School, the building, which was erected in eighteen eighty-two, was out- grown in the eighteen nineties or before. A new school building large enough to accom- modate both the grades and the new, revised, four-year high school instead of the previous three-year system was occupied in September of eighteen ninety-seven. The building, of frame construction, also was erected on the site of the present high school. Subjects taught then included Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Astro- nomy, three years of Latin and three years of Math- ematics. The eighteen ninety-seven faculty was headed by W.N. Phillips, who received an annual salary of nine hundred dollars. The only other high school teacher was Blanche McAllister. She was paid forty- five dollars per month. The five elementary teachers received forty-two dollars and fifty cents a month. The eighteen ninety-seven building was planned with little expectation that the city of Milbank would continue to grow, and it became necessary for the community to build again after only nine years. This building was of brick with granite trim. The first floor contained eight classrooms, the upper, six rooms, with an assembly room. The superintendent’s office was on the south front stair landing and had a distinctive fan- shaped window which, viewed from the outside, en- hanced the main south entrance just below it. The total cost of that building, including furnishings, was nearly forty thousand dollars. The nineteen hundred and six building served the community until nineteen forty-three when it was de- stroyed by fire. It housed both the grades and high school, until nineteen twenty-nine wnen the Central building was added to accommodate the grades. A tun- nel connected the main building and the Central build- ing. It was also aided with the completion of the city auditorium in nineteen twenty-three. The nineteen-forty, nineteen-fifty decade became a nine ter n-t'irty aecade«became a critical one for MHS. Following the loss of the high school, the school board drafted plans for an immedi- ate replacement. However, due to materia) shortages following World War Two, the board's repeated ad- vertising brought no acceptable construction bids. By nineteen forty-seven it became evident, due to rising prices, that the proceeds of the two hundred thousand dollar bond issue plus the insurance indemnity from the loss of the old building would not pay for the con- templated high school. So a cooperative scheme was entered into by the school board and the city council under which the city would buy the east half of the athletic field. A necessary city bond election carried easily, and the field was divided in ownership. The new nigh school then became possible and was ready for classes in the fall of nineteen forty-nine. The football scoreboard at the athletic field was erected in nineteen fifty-four through the efforts of the Kiwanis’ Club and memorial gifts in honor of Meredith Mitchell, a star athlete of MHS who lost his life in a tragic accident in nineteen hundred sixty-two. A nineteen hundred seventy addition to the school was a steel panel type building for use as an agricul- ture shop and the enlargement of the existing shop building for use by the expanded industrial arts de- partment. Also in nineteen seventy, after thirty-three years of service, the original football stadium was judged unsafe for further use. Believing the original fa- cility superior to the manufactured bleachers, a group of citizens working evenings and Sundays completed the new stadium. This structure, including an espe- cially nice press box, was built and painted in about one week through the efforts of about two-hundred citizens, many of them students and teachers. In nineteen hundred seventy-four the National Guard Armory Gymnasium was completed for use for basketball, wrestling, track, community concerts, etc. Seating capacity of the gymnasium is three thousand two hundred, exclusive of floor space. From early times, the Milbank curriculum stressed fundamental courses but also advanced courses such as Physics, Chemistry, advanced Math and a foreign language. Home Economics, Business, Drivers' Educa- tion, Distributive Education and Special Education have been added. hese are the usual scenes that you’ll find in our MHS. a smile for everyone, a surprise for many of us. and a bore for some of us. Steve (Tuna) Trevett and Tom (Spiffy) Lieffort: WOW! Would you look at her! Dave (Fish) Beachem declares. Oh my gosh! Somebody took the shelves out of my locker! The name of my speech is 1001 reasons to fall asleep in class by Kevin Anderson. 2 Student Life. Theme
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