North Little Rock High School - Wildcat Yearbook (North Little Rock, AR)

Page 13 text:

lllll .. .Xt that time the school district was voting only a live mill tax lor the' maintenance of its schools. The raising ol' this tax to seven mills paved the way lor the building ol' a new and larger high school. Property at I'.0lll'Lll and N'illow Streets was chosen as a site. This land belonged to the lron Mountain Railroad Company but it was being used as a small truck farm. The case as to whether the school board had the right to con- demn the property lor school use was tried belore judge R. .-X. Lee who ruled that the railroad had no right ol eminent domain since it was not using the land for any gainful purpose in growing vegetables. The court set SAl,0lNl as the amount to be paid in exchange lor a deed. On this site a beautilnl three-story brick building with at red tile rool' was constructed at a cost ol' Sl00,lNl0. Charles l ,-E 'Ib x G 7 Q C C I Z l.. Thompson was the architect and George XV. Fair the contractor. Completely equipped lor up-to-date high school work, it was ready lor occupancy in the l'all ol' l9llZ. liarly in the morning on Friday beliore school was to 'open the lollowing Nlonday in the lall ol' l925, the building was destroyed by lire. Fortunately, the lots on I lnrd Street just across lront the high school grounds were vacant at the time. Nlr. Stroell, superintendent ol' the Missouri l'a- cilic Shops, ollered the services ol' his men and a' temporary lrame structure was built on these lots on Sunday in order that the high school might be able to open on schedule' Xlonday. The men worked lrom sunrise to sunset with the Missouri l'acil'ic hand playing all day to speed up the work. School opened on Monday. Xlarch H126 . . Nothing hut the brick walls had been salvaged from the lire, but in Nlarch the re-built high school was com- pleted - and another story had been added, making it lour stories tall. This building has been called lfourth Street -Iunior High since the completion ol' the present Senior High School building. lfl29 . . . ln lll2Sl, because ol' the rapid increase in the school en- rollment, it heeame necessary to build a new high school. Land on Twenty-Second and Main, known as X'Vildberger's Addition, was purchased lor S7,500, The lirm ol' Nlann, lVagner, and King planned the buildmg and supervised its construction. Wfilliam Peterson was in charge ol construction. ln 193-l the beautiful landscaping program lor Senior High's campus was completed. Behind the building is its handsome stadium and ath- letic lield - lair ol the lamous X'Vildcats - which were completed shortly alter the main building. Ours was the liirst athletic field in the state to be lighted lor night loot- ball. l952l . . lly l95?5 the vocal and instrumental departments had so lar outgrown their quarters that it was necessary to con- struct lor them at separate building adjoining Senior High.

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