North High School - Polaris Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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Pratt, the son of a man influential in the creation of the school, was the first North Side boy to give his life. The enrollment here steadily increased after the war ended and additions were under construction when on a morning in June, 1914, the day before commencement, the North Side, in fact the whole city, was aroused by fire sirens. North High was burning. The flames raged all day and when at last the fire had been extinguished, two firemen had lost their lives and the building was in ruins. Contrary to custom, the graduating exercises were held on Friday at West High. Fortunately for North, Central was just moving into new quarters and our classes could be held in the old Central building. Immediately, however, the rebuilding of the school was begun and by January, 1915, commencement exercises were held in our own auditorium. Everything progressed smoothly until in 1917, America was drawn into the World War. North again played an important part in the struggle. Active as ever, our school supported Red Cross work and gave many young men to the cause. Seventeen students and graduates were killed in service. After the World War ended, our school began to grow by leaps and bounds until enrollment fairly taxed the building for room. Despite the addition of the west wing, other measures had to be used. Junior Highs were built to relieve the pressure of ninth graders. Still the fl x)d of education-seeking young people poured into North until a policy of keeping some sophomores at Junior Highs had to be adopted. The highest enrollment North has had was 3450 in 1952, and at the present time, if the tenth graders attending Junior Highs were to be counted, we would have the same number. To satisfy the demands for different types of work, new subjects were introduced at North. The character of three of these new courses, the music, the creative writing, and the commercial, will be explained by the speakers to follow. To say that we, the graduating class of January, 1935, appreciate the efforts of Mr. Hobbs, Mr. Greer, Mr. Gates, and all the others instrumental in the growth of North, is unnecessary. Sacrifices such as they have made cannot be repaid with mere words. The only true recompense we can ever make is to fulfill their dreams for us, and to be as eager to better our community as they were theirs. Commencement s| ecch of George Faust, January “A Senior President. NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN MUSIC Our present department of music is a far cry from the original one. Among the new organizations introduced in our vocal department is the A Capella Choir, which has won much praise. No doubt, many of you have enjoyed hearing this splendid group sing. The choirs of a number of our northside churches are composed principally of former North High choir members. Two interesting phases of our instrumental department with which you may not be so familiar, are the brass class and the string class which were introduced five years ago. Previous musical training was not then required of those who wished to be admitted to these classes, provided that they had a real desire to learn to play a musical instrument. At that time, the classes had an enrollment of seven, while today they have an enrollment of 318, and as many as 50 to 100 pupils are turned away each semester because it is impossible to accommodate them. The students in the brass class are encouraged to take up the instrument which fits them best. They A Glim MX of the office force chows each one at work: Left to right: Mr . Sandberg. Mies Rittcn, Mrs. Miller. Mr . Pratt, and Mr . Simonson. • it

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JF.SSIF. P. ABBOT1 English STELLA |. ADAMS English HARRIET AUSTIN History T. W. BRI CKHEIMI K Industrial .Iris JOSEPH J. BROM Mathematics ETHELYN J. BROS Art ADDA BROWN Com men ial GEORGIA A. BURGESS English GRACE C. BUSACK Art R. A. CRAWFORD Commercial ETHEL P. CRITTENDEN English ALICE ;. DAVIDSON English PERLEY A. DAVIS Science L. ELEF.N DENNING Physical Education JEAN DRUM Science 11 ELEN F. EAYRS Home Economics LUCY 11. EDQU1ST Social Science PAULINE E. FARSETH loinguage FLORENCE A. FELT History I lOMER I.. FETZER Industrial Arts ELIZABETH II. FOSS Science ELMER L.GADBOIS Music PETER GAUN language AGNES GI-ASOI English MARION R. GOULD English MARY GOULD History ISTIIER 0, HALL Language MINNIE O. HANSON English MABLE R. HART Mathematics ESTHER HAVESON Physical Education GLADYS L HOBBS English SEVI RENA C. IIOLMBERG Commercial IRENE I IOLMBERG Science MATHILDA E. HOLT Language CAROLINE IIORSCII English l: • Faculty

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ELSA M. HUEBNER Commercial JESSIE R. I IL'STON Science JOHN J. JACOBI Industrial Arts MARY P. JAMES Home Economics GEORGE A. JENSEN Social Science EDITH H. JONES English KATHERINE KELLY English MARTIN T. KENNEDY Physical Education W. W. Kl.AUSI.ER Industrial Arts HERMINE K. KON1G language MATHILDA L. KREFTING Science MYRTLE O. LARSON Commercial AGNES M. LERSCHEN Commercial MYRON F. LESLIE Mathematics DELLA UNDSTEN English MARIE LUNDEEN Language HARRIET MADIGAN Mathematics W. N. MANDEVILI.E Social Science IDA V. MANN. luinguage VIOLA A. MAR TI Mathematics ELSIE H. MATSON History JUNE M. M LAIRD History MARY C. MOSES Social Science THERESA MURP1IY Vocational Adriscr LILLIAN M. NELSON English MELVIN A. OLSON Social Science BEULAH B. PIERCE English GEORGE H. POLI.ARI Commercial MARY A. POWELL English MARY P. PUTNAM Science ESTHER C. QUEI.I.O Science ORIN A. RING WALT Industrial Arts ELIZABETH ROBINSON History RUBY M. SANDERSON History JOHN H. SANTEE Science 15 • Faculty