Milford High School - Milfordian Yearbook (Milford, DE)

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Table of Contents Presentation.................... Dedication...................... History of Milford Schools...... Administration Board of Education............ Dr. Ramon C. Cobbs............ Mr. M. A. Glasmire............ Faculty....................... Secretaries................... Custodians.................... Cafeteria Staff............... Student Government Student Councils.............. Athletic Association.......... Class of 1954 Officers...................... Members....................... Resume of Activities.......... Who's Who..................... 1953 Prom..................... College Daze.................. Class Will.................... Class of 1955 Officers...................... Members....................... Class of 1956 Officers...................... Members....................... Class of 1957 Officers...................... Members....................... Message to Underclassmen........ Activities Of a Literary and Scholastic Nature Milfordian Staff............. Honor Society................ Milfordian Club.............. M.H.S. News Staff............ Active Classroom Shots....... Art Club..................... Typing Club.................. French Club ................. Driver Education............. Of a Musical Nature Senior High Girls' Choir .... A Capella Choir.............. Junior High Boys' Choir.......56 Junior High Girls.............56 Seniors in Music..............57 Majorettes....................57 Marching Band.................57 Dance Band....................58 Concert Band..................58 Of an Altruistic Nature Future Farmers of America . . 59 F.F.A. Activities.............59 Stagecraft Club.............. 60 Make-up Club................. 60 Make-up Apprentices.......... 60 Office Runners................61 Library Assistants............61 A.A. Candy Clerks.............61 D.E. Counter Clerks...........61 Senior High Safety Patrol .... 62 Senior High Red Cross.........62 Junior High Red Cross.........62 Senior High Cheerleaders...........64 Junior High Cheerleaders...........64 1953 May Day King and Queen .... 64 Sports Hockey Teams Varsity.......................65 Junior Varsity................65 Football Squad..................66 Football Queen and Court........67 Basketball Teams Boys' Varsity.................68 Girls' Varsity................68 Boys' Junior Varsity..........69 Girls' Varsity................69 Track Squads, 1953 Varsity.......................71 Junior Varsity................71 Baseball Teams, 1953 Varsity.......................70 Junior Varsity................70 Softball Team, 1953 ........... 72 Action Shots..................72 Advertisers........................74 2 4 6 . 8 . 9 9 10 12 12 . 12 13 14 16 17 36 37 38 39 40 42 42 44 44 46 46 48 50 50 51 51 52 53 53 53 54 55 55

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Dedication Mr. Huth, Mrs. Williams, Miss Hastings The Senior Class of 1954 dedicates its yearbook to Mrs. Florence Williams, Miss Louise Hastings, and Mr. Lochlin Huth, our class ad- visers. They have given their time unselfishly to support the activities of the class. Mrs. Williams has been a great help to us in previous years, and without her staunch guidance, this yearbook would have been an impossibility. Miss Hastings has always been willing to give us finan- cial advice and to help us organize our class projects. Mr. Huth has taken his time to plan the senior trip. These three teachers have been our sponsors, advisers, and friends. We are proud to dedicate the 1954 MILFORDIAN to them as a small measure of our appreciation.

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History Of Milford Schools Hanging in the display case in the Milford Elementary School on Lakeview is an outstanding symbol of Milford's present education system--the old school bell, Milford's first. The historic value of this bell, which is dated 1809, was recognized by the Captain Jonathan Caldwell Chapter, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The active members of this chapter arranged for its display and dedication in 1950. Now let us explore the history of Milford's schools which lies behind this bell. Milford's present school system is the result of the consolidation of many smaller schools and school districts. Be- cause of the fact that Milford is divided into two parts by the Mispillion River, there existed at one time two separate towns--North and South Milford, each having its own school system. The first system of which there is any record was the Select (pay) School, operated by Rev. Alex Huston or Heus- ton, pastor of the Double and Three Runs Church in 1777. Other information states that the first free school in either of the Milfords was held in a small frame house on Washington Street in the rear of the Charles Barker residence. In North Milford as early as 1817, the Masonic Lodge sponsored a school in what was known as The Academy” building on Second Street, between North and Church Streets, where it still stands after having annexes added on the north and south sides and on the east end. The records show that this building was erected in 1810 (or earlier) by Elias Shockley, who retained a builder's lien which was assigned sometime prior to 1832 to parties named Layton and Sipple. From these men the title went to Temple Lodge No. 9 of Milford, which sold the property to the School Commiitee in 1846 for the U. S. Districts Nos. 42 and 43 of Kent County. A panoramic picture of Milford dated 1885 shows this building with its bell-cupola as it stood prior to alterations in 1887 when the two-story addition was build toward Second Street on the west side. The old school bell which hung in that cupola was rehung after alterations and later served at the North Street Negro School until 1945. The first Free School in North Milford was located in the building now standing on the point of North Street and Church Street. This school was probably established about 1832. There were three other schools in North Milford. One, conducted by the Rev.J. Leighton McKim, produced450scholars in the ten years that it was operated. Another was conducted by Charles W. Rud, James M. Williams, E. B. Gaylord, Charles W. Super, and William Lord. The other was the Classical Acad- emy, organized in 1883 and chartered in 1886. The public school district map of 1868 shows a free school building on the east side of Montgomery Street, between Front and Second Streets, opposite the site of the new Bell Telephone Building. The existence of this school has been verified by comtemporaries who recall it. In 1849 when the Rev. G. W. Kennedy was organizing the Milford Presbyterian Church, he had a private school called The Milford Female In- stitute, which he conducted for several years chiefly for the convenience of educating his oVvn children and to which others were admitted for a fee. In 1865 North Milford is reputed to have had three school districts and three schools, while South Milford had one small school with two teachers. In 1877 an act of the legislature consolidated the school districts in North Milford, and in 1887, the Academy build- ing was enlarged, probably to accomodate the consolidated student body and to meet the increasing demand for educa- tion. In 1899 an important act of the legislature consolidated the schools of the two Milfords into one district. This act created a school board with representatives elected from both sides of the river. Following this act, a site was selected joining the old Academy lot at Second and North Streets. Buildings were cleared away, bonds were issued, and in 1904 and 1905 new sections were added to the old Academy. The teachers from the South Milford School were then transferred to the North Milford School, where several of them taught until comparatively recent times. In one of these rooms one of the first, if not the first, homemaking course in Delaware was taught by Mrs. Lucille L. Pratt. Shortly thereafter, the high school curriculum was permanently broadened by the Smith-Hughes Appropriation Congress to subsidize the teaching of vocational agriculture and vocational homemaking. In 1919 Milford became 3 special school district as the result of the School Code enacted by the legislature at that session. One year later the Delaware School Auxiliary Association, using funds made available through the generosity of Mr. Pierre S. duPont, purchased three and a third acres of land on North Street and erected a brick school building for use as an elementary school. In 1936 the State Board of Education built on each end of this building a room equipped for manual training and domestic science instruction. Overcrowding in the North Street School led to the purchase of a plot of land on Lakeview Avenue, where a high school was completed about 1930. Then in 1949 upon the completion of a new modern twenty classroom addition, the elementary division was moved to Lakeview Avenue also. Modern facilities, which were soon added, included a music room, gymnasium, and an ag- ricultural building. Now for the first time in Milford's scholastic history there were twelve complete grades on one site. The passerby today may see the building progress that has been made by the Milford Schools. If he steps into the vestibule, he will see the old school bell--a relic of the past, a symbol of education forever. 6