Murphysboro High School - Crimson and Corn Yearbook (Murphysboro, IL)

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1950 Crimson ami Corn ...-..-.,-.,-..-..-..-.......-,.-..-..-.-..-..-..-......-.,-..-..-......-.,-..-......-.....,-..-..-..-.,-..-..-.,- insurance which was secured only a few months before. and the State Legislature allotted tFtiT.000 for rehabilitation. The records will show that 55.500 was returned to the state. School opened within a tnonth under very unfavorable conditions. The motto ran: DOWN, HUT NOT OUT. Let me pause one moment to pay homage to the three fellow students who lost their lives in the debris. Those nine years at Murphysboro Township lligh School were the best 111111 most ambitious years ot' my life. Mt. Atvel taldwell tollowed Mr. Todd as principal of lll. T. ll. S. Ile remained here from the year 1027 to 1029. Whcn Lllr. Caldwell left .llurphysboro, Mr. Albert Nicholas came to take over his office. llc be- came principal in the fall ot' 1020. That was the year of the beginning ot' the era known as the de- pression. The enrollment of the school was down to 400 and finances were difficult. Many schools in Southern Illinois were unable to pay their teachers during the next several years. but Alurphysboro was fortunate in being able to pay the teachers at all times. lluring his seventeen years as principal of ill. T. H. S. the enrollment rose from 400 to 6210, wl1ic11 is still thc record. Mr. Nicholas and his staff of teachers broadened tl1e curriculum during the years from 19250 to lil-tti, They developed the music department to a fuller extent, added metal shop, brought back foods which had been dropped out some years before, added photography, psychology, and office practice. XVhile Mr. Nicholas was in alurphysboro. he was president ot' the Illinois State lligh School Prin- cipals' Association t'or three years and was also president of the Southern Division of the Illinois Edn- cational Association. Mr. Nicholas was an active member of many local clubs and civic organizations. In both music and athletics the school won many championships during those seventeen years. Two ot' the most outstanding football teams were the championship teams of 19210 and 1042. ln music the outstanding year was 15140 when the band went to the national contest at Kansas City. When Mr. Nicholas left Murphysboro to go to Anna, Mr. Fred Shappard came here from Marion to fill the position as principal. There have been some minor changes during Mr. Shappard's term as principal here, such as adding civics as a required subject, but the major change is the construction work going on at the present time. To the old building we are adding a new gymnasium, a cottage t'or the home economics department with the band room in the basement. and a new building for the manual training department. Through one-half century of progress M. T. ll. S. has developed into its appearance ot' today. with its impressive building, extensive equipment. beautiful campus, and modern stadium. lloards. facul- ties. engineers with their corps ot' workers and, most i1nporta11t as well as most mnnerous. the total student enrollment have each contributed to the development ot' tl1e school today. Ruth Sabine, '50 M. T. H. S. 1950 .WV N .. ..., -.. . .gs 1 V - . -V ...,. .,,.. ,,t'S1au. ..... t-.- ., . -1 , ' ' N S it .......-..-..-..-..-..-......-..-..................-..-.,-..-..-..-......-......-..-..-..-.,-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..- . . . Ullflflilllg placc to new. - Tennyson Page Nine v

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1950 Crimson and Corn QOQOQOQOQOQODOQOQOQOQ0.0QOQOQOQIYQ!IQ!iQ!lQllQllQllQl!Qll,1lQilQ!bQilQ1bQ1 QOQUQUQUQ UQUQ Since Mr. Rogers had been Principal of the Murphysboro City High School, he was advanced to the position as the first principal of M. T. H. S. The teachers who served under him on the first faculty were Roscoe C. McCormick, Mrs. Kate Chapman, and Aneta Baldwin. To Mr. Rogers, undoubted- ly, goes the honor of the title, FATHER OF M. T. H. S. Mr. Rogers served as principal here until 1905, when he moved to Everett, Washington, where he had been elected principal of the high school. When Mr. Rogers left, the board of education chose Mr. Edwin E. McLaughlin to fill the office of principal. Mr. McLaughlin spent the years from 1905-1907 here as principal. As an ardent advocate of prac- tical education he succeeded in introducing into the High School manual training and other practical activities. Following Mr. McLaughlin as principal was Mr. Edward E. Van Cleve. During his three years at M. T. H. S., from 1907 to 1910, efforts were made to beautify the campus. Trees that were selected for variety and were typical of the native woods of Southern Illinois were planted and are now flour- ishing in full maturity. It was during Mr. Van Cleve's term as principal that the teacher who is probably the best known of any to the people of Murphysboro first came to M. T. H. S. - Miss Anna Taggart. She is prob- ably best remembered as a Latin teacher. Miss Taggart was an outstanding teacher and a leading, civic-minded citizen of Murphysboro for thirty-one years. During these years she was also an able assistant to the principals: Mr. Todd, Mr. Caldwell, and Mr. Nicholas. Upon her retirement in 1940 she spent several years in Murphysboro and then moved to Carthage, Missouri, but still has retained a warm friendship for and an interest in Murphysboro, its citizens, and its activities. When Mr. Van Cleve left M. T. H. S., Mr. G. J. Koons, the assistant principal, was promoted to the office of principal. He remained here from 1910 to 1917. In March, 1911, the school was first placed on the accredited list of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Mr. Koons saw the need for landscaping the campus and, by acting promptly, was able to secure expert help for this work from the University of Illinois. The campus was allowed to be a project for the University's Agriculture School. Students, under the guidance of an instructor, visited the campus and recommended a plan. The only expense to the school was the cost of shrubs. Following Mr. Koons, Mr. A. N. Thurston was principal of the high school. Mr. Thurston's work began in the fall of 1910. Chemistry, physics, physiology, and physical geography were his principal subjects. He taught some agriculture as well as assisting in coaching basketball and baseball. In 1917 Mr. Thurston was appointed principal of the high school, which position he held one year. On leaving the high school Mr. Thurston was appointed chemist for the Ohio State Board of Health at Columbus, Ohio. The new principal of M. T. H. S. was Idr. M. N. Todd. Since the years he was in Murphysboro were filled with exciting events, perhaps, they can best be told in his own words. I was recommended as one capable for the position by a former superintendent of mine who was also at one time principal of M. T. H. S. I refer to Mr. E. E. Van Cleve. The school's enrollment increased rapidly from about four hundred students to five hundred and fifty. More room was needed and the Home Economics Building was erected in 1920 at a cost of :B8,500. By 1923 the enrollment was past the six hundred mark. The crowded condition demanded more room and modern buildings, and so the board invited the alumni, business and professional men and women, the editors of the local papers to visit the school for observation. Later a mass- meeting was held and the board, acting on the wishes of the meeting, asked the voters to confirm a bond issue of 3150.000 It cariied and two large and excellent buildings were erected. Now let us leave the building feature and enumerate the respects in which M. T. H. S. can be classified as the pioneer school of Southern Illinois. It has the honor of ranking among the first of the schools to expand the cu1'riculum in the following ways: the first or second township high school, since one other high school claims the same honorg first to establish the Smith-Hughes Home Economics corrsesg second school to establish a full time accredited teacher for girls' physical education, first high school in the United States to establish an extensive laboratory for testing poul- try for egg-laying characteristicsg first to establish a slide rule for valuating school grades on individual differences and probability curve, and first school in Illinois to establish on a permanent basis the forty-five minute nine-period day. M. T. H. S. did boast of the largest art display of oil paintings and prints in the halls of the school, but most of these were destroyed by the tornado. - Inf1918 football was organized when very few schools had reinstated it after the war. As for bas- ketball we had no gym so the friends down town made up a purse of 5400 and the school had a pie- social which netted another S400 with which they remodeled the Old Pavilion in Logan Park by arch- ing the ceiling. Then came the tornado of March 18, 1925. The Old Central building was entirely destroyed and much damage was done to the other three buildings. Fortunately the board carried S125,000 tornado Page Eight

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W 901010141 Former Aclmfi1zistmto1's of M. T. H. S. CSM: H'I-8f0l'ff'lll Sketch? 01010141014114:Quinini:xi:,gmminmi:mi:121111rimx3o1o1u1u1cs1n1u34ni ELLIS H. ROGERS A. B., Ph. D. 1901 - 1905 ANNA TAGGART A. B., M. A. 1909 - 1940 EDWIN E. MCLAUGHLIN A. B. 1905 - 1907 A. N. THURSTON A. B. 1917 - 1918 EDVVARIJ E. VAN CLEVE A. B. 1907 - 1910 M. N. TODD A. B. XT X 1918 - 1927 if. J. 140055 1910 - 1914 ALBILRI IX ICHOLAE A. B., M. A. 1929, - 1946 D.1014'111201-x1u14x1u2-,ini11:1 cl 1 3 :gui 1 1 I iu21xinin1u1oio1111 Page Ten