Palo Alto High School - Madrono Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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AT PALO ALTO remain at home most of the time, and the boys, who acted very reserved in the pres- ence of the gentle sex, often went calling on their lady friends at home, with whom they were content to sit and talk. Hayrides and picnics were highlights of social gatherings. In addition to the Debating and Declama- tion Society, which staged a weekly debate in the assembly hall, Paly had a boys’ glee club, a literary society and an art club, or- ganized in 1907, an athletic association, and a baseball team which won several Academic Athletic League penants in the first decade of the century. The Thespians also started about this time, being called the Reading Club until 1908. They began by reading stories and poems, some aloud before the student body, and then reading and acting plays. Before long, Thespians had become the main club of the school, unseating the Debating Society, which had an interesting evolution of its own. From an inter-school debating team it became an organization which, in 1916, had the avowed purpose of “furthering debating and parliamentary law.” It is known today as the Forum Club, which name first became popular about the time of World War I. In the early years, the debates were second to no sporting events and prompted the writing of numer- ous yells and songs. Girls’ organizations were also active and about 1910 the Paly fems began to present annual ‘Stunt Parties,’ forerunners of the present “Jinx.” Football, as an inter-school sport, received The building donated by Mrs. Zschokke for a high school. See page 6. . a setback throughout the West. Because of the large number of deaths in high school and college football at that time, both Stan- ford and California switched to Rugby about 1906. Palo Alto High School, under the lead- ership of J. C. Templeton, then principal, followed suit in 1907, and did not resume American Football until 1920, a year after Stanford. Track, however, was Paly’s main glory up into the roaring twenties, and many of our athletes gained national fame. These included John K. Norton; Ruric and Robert Lyman (‘‘Dink’’) Templeton, sons of the principal; Morris Kirksey, second fastest sprinter in the world; “Feg’’ Murray, now a famous cartoonist; Hugo Leistner; George Horine, world champion high jumper in 1912; and Lester Steer—all of whom participated in the Olympic games at least once. Organized music began in the high school when, in 1911, twenty students gathered in a home and formed the Palo Alto High School Orchestra. Two years later a band was started. By 1916 the musical organizations were in full swing and presented their first concert. Evidently it was a success, for there was a second the next year: admission was twenty-five cents. A $200,000 bond issue was called for in January, 1917, for the construction of a new high school. The present location was select- ed and leased from Stanford University, and on March 23, 1918, the first cornerstone was laid. The new buildings were first occupied on December 24 of that year, when the entire student body and faculty, led by Principal Walter H. Nichols, walked over together The new shop building here at Paly.

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dollars. The four-year high school course was also inaugurated about this time. October of 1901 saw the appearance of a literary magazine called the Red and Green. Published monthly by the high school stud- ents, it cost them fifty cents. The name was soon changed to Madrono, and in 1903, to The Sphinx. The title Madrono was re- adopted in 1904, however, and was retained by the monthly until the advent of the Camp- anile in 1918, At the end of each school year, a graduation issue of the Madrono, which served as a yearbook, was put out. But this was not Paly’s first publication. In fact, as early as 1895, a paper, called The Palo Alto Statement, was printed, and even before this, the paper was written by the editors and read before the school. In November, 1901, the student body was organized and all the pupils “of regular standing’ could become members. There were about 110 in attendance at the time. In 1911 the first Student Body Officers included a president, first and second vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, Madrono editor, Mad- rono manager, property clerk, three auditors, and a yell leader. A real proponent of stu- dent body government, Mr. Nichols started it on its present scale at Paly, when it was practically unheard of, and made it work. A few years later the commissioners began to come into existence, along with the elected student council, which was provided for by a 1920 amendment. The 1921 commission- ers were general welfare and safety, finance and revenue, entertainment (the first com- missioner of entertainment was a boy), and IAEA AY Ng NE TO Nar literary activities. Later that year the com- missioners of girls’ activities and school betterment were added, followed in 1935 by boys’ activities and girls’ athletics; the office of commissioner of boys’ athletics was created sometime in the intervening period. In these early days of the school, when “23 Skidoo” was the byword, people went to high school to get an eduaction and not for recreation. Schooling was strict, and be- cause Paly was small, the faculty could keep careful track of the students, and anyone with poor grades was dropped from school. Life was not without its pleasures, however, and the town’s one policeman was no men- ace in the horse and buggy days. Although Palo Alto was definitely a college town and © Stanford activities were prominent here, the local lads had their hangouts, known as “Stick”” Wilson's and Larkin’s Cigar Store. With top wages being 10 cents an hour, spending 50 cents on a date was extravagant. But then sodas were only a dime, and one could get into the movies for a nickel. At the few dances, well lighted and chaperoned, a local woman would play waltzes and two steps on a piano, the same tunes over and over, from eight until eleven. There were no dance dates; instead, fellows made out pro- grams of the girls with whom they wanted to dance. Old Jordan Hall, which stood on Ramona Street, usually held these high school dances. Although horse and buggy trips to San Mateo and nearby points were not uncommon, the only way to go any dis- tance was by train, and round trip tickets to San Francisco would cost one dollar. The fellows and girls, however, were satisfied to To the left is the first city-owned, seperate senior high school—now Channing Grammar School. To the right is the old grammar school building, in whose second story the first high school classes were held.

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from the old Channing Avenue building. At that time the present music room served as a library and was the pride and joy of the school. Cafeteria meals, comprising a hot dish, salad, cake and ice cream, were served in what is now the cooking room; space now devoted to the office was one big room used as a study hall; and there were no gyms, locker rooms or any rooms in the vicinity of the present library and little theater. The old practice football field, given over to girls’ sports this year, was the original football field although it remained unsodded until the mid-twenties. Shortly before the move into the new Palo Alto Union High School building, the first issue of the Campanile, very similar to the present paper, appeared. A prize of one dollar was offered to whichever high school student turned in the best name for the paper. The Campanile went on to win in 1937 the first honors in the national “Columbia Schol- astic Press Association’’ contest. An add- itional publication, known as “The Lit’’ ap- peared first in 1932. It was a monthly maga- ee we ‘é 9 Sy Left: Invitation to the board of trustees. Right: Old class picture. Note leg-o-mutton sleeves and straw ry 3 4 t ; hats. A an a r oe aie - pe 7 fo - 3 3 fi es hi 43° “ys 59 = fof | “ as Pee is f + LAtticd +k Bes Z Hite ans . pata ig deel ns Fi, Ip tece: Rs pee aa TAL eee, ws : f pg 2) t ¥ SA, 4a - FPA . wat : ? ‘ SFL fal Fim [Oe pay 3 Re] choad. wl ca wert, ; (1%. miler % fer = f ; fe lacy Eid Pe 7, 10 PANTIE NS. NGM U a GS zine containing stories, poems, etc., written by Paly students, and persisted until the war forced its abandonment, supposedly tempor- ary, although it has not yet been revived. The little handbook, given out to all pupils of the high school at the beginning of the school year, has been a familiar feature here since its inauguration twenty-two years ago. Prior to 1916, Paly had no regular physi- cal education classes, and consequently no regular athletic coach, although Mr. R. J. Jungermann ably substituted, helping the boys out after school. With the advent of military training, the leader of the project, Major Dougan, also took over the job of handling athletics until Mr. Howard C. Ray joined the faculty in 1921. In May of 1920 | the Boys’ League was organized as a devel- opment of the previously formed ‘Overall Club’’ designed to combat the high cost of clothing. At this time, too, the boys present- ed some very popular athletic shows, prob- ably forerunners of the present Boys’ Stunt Show. Noon candy sales became popular after