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Page 19 text:
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rant in athletic competition. State championships have been won in football, basketball, tract, swimming, and water polo. From the early years of the school, Long Beach has maintained an excellent program in public speaking activities, which featured debat- ing in competition with other schools. This particular type of com- petitive speahing has now given place largely to that carried on in the Speakers' Bureau or the Spealrers' Workshop, which provides oppor- tunity for many more students to receive training in public speaking. Other activities, particularly in the fields of dramatics and school pub- lications. have been emphasized. School plays, pageants, and operas have attracted wide public interest, and the program of training which has been maintained has reached large numbers of students. A number ot' young people who have achieved national prominence on stage and screen have received their initial training at Polytechnic High School. Our school publications, Caerulea, High Lite, and Acacia have reflected much credit upon the school. ' Following the close of World War I, which had called large numbers of Poly alumni and older boys into their country's service, there was a period ot unprecedented growth in the school. ln i920 bonds in the amount of SI00,000 were voted to add another building to the high school plant, which when completed was Known as the Liberal Arts Building. lt was occupied by the English, Social Studies and Music Departments and provided an excellent school library room. The follow- ing year bonds, were voted for S435,000, which amount was used for the purchase of additional land and the erection of the Practical Arts Building and two fine gymnasiums, one for the boys and one for the girls. ln the school year i924-25 the enrollment of Polytechnic High Scool reeched a total of 3,750, which was the highest enrollment in the his- tory of the school. At that time Poly claimed the distinction of being the largest high school west of the Mississippi. However, our largest class was not graduated until many years later, being that of June l94I, when 737 seniors received their diplomas of graduation. In the year l92l the first iunior high school opened. Other iunior highs followed ln close succession in the next three or tour years. finally taking all ninth grade pupils and leaving Polytechnic a three year senior high school. ln September, l926, Woodrow Wilson High School opened, taking a large number of students who would otherwise have enrolled in Polytechnic. Thus, for a few years the enrollment was materially reduced, but by I932 Poly had again climbed beyond the three thou- sand mark. The next year on March I0 came the Earthquake! Fortunately, this occurred after school hours, which accounted for the fact that no lives were lost at school and no one was iniured. However, the extent of the damage wrought upon the school plant can be comprehended only as we realize that all buildings were either destroyed or dam- aged beyond repair, with the possible exception of the swimming pool buillding, the print shop and the auditorium. These required extensive remodelling or repairs to meet safety regulations imposed by the State Building Code. The I933 edition of Caerulea, which came out a few months following the Quake, sounded the prevailing note of hope and faith: Through a catastrophe, which for the time seemed almost overwhelming, has come the opportunity to build with greater steadfastness and vision-- . lt was our challenge to meet this emergency in the courageous spirit which was characteristic of Polytechnic. And truly may it be said that during the next two or I three years, when we were without permanent buildings and the school was housed in tents and bungalows, the entire school manifested this indomitable spirit in marked degree. Beside the wonderful cooperation shown by both teachers and students in this great emergency, one fact seemed to stand out: namely, that the real school does not consist of buildings, boots and equipment: these are but aids to learning. The real school consists of boys and girls with a will to learn, and compe- tent devoted teachers to guide and instruct. Plans adopted by the Board of Education for rebuilding the Poly- technic school plant called for classroom capacity and school facilities even surpassing those of the former school. Thus far these plans have been only partially realized. Construction completed to date includes the Science, Commercial, and Arts Buildings, the central portion of the Administration Building, the Auditorium, and approximately half of the Vocational Arts Building. Buildings provided for in the plans, but not yet constructed, are the north and south wings of the Administration Build- ing, the Library and Student Center Building, a Band and Orchestra Building, the Boys' and Girls' Gymnasiums, a Cafeteria, a Swimming Pool, and the remainder of the Vocational Arts Building. ln other words, the plant as it now stands represents little more than half of the floor space and school facilities in permanent buildings which were included in the original plans. During the past few years additional land adioining the school has been acquired, which increases the area of the total school site to more than twenty acres. Construction of the balance of the school plant according to plans already outlined will doubtless be resumed as soon as the general situation in the country malres it possible to secure the necessary materials and labor for school construction. ln this brief historical slretch we have endeavored to trace the growth and changes that have taken place in the school enrollment and in the physical plant of the high school from the time of its founding down to the present time. ln addition we have indicated something of the development of the curricular and the extra-curricular programs and of student activities and organizations. All reference to personalities, either of students or teachers and officials has been omitted with the exception of two or three who had to do with the school in its very beginning. Without mating any claim to undue credit for initiative and the pioneering spirit beyond that which might have been displayed by the average school, located fortunately as we have been in a rapidly growing and progressive city, it may be permissible in this account to list in conclusion certain movements and organizations of importance which had their beginning in Polytechnic High School, or which this school was one of the first in the State to sponsor. Among these are the following, some of which have already been mentioned earlier in this article: A student-body organization with a constitution and student officers. This was started in l906, being one ot the first in the State. The first high school Parent-Teacher Association in California, started in l9I0. 4 The first Commission form of student-body government, started in I9I2-I3. The first Honor Scholarship Society. whose original purpose and requirements for membership were substantially the same as were later adopted by the State Federation. The Student Store, started as a Boot Exchange in l9I2. lcontinued on page l24i
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Polytechnic High School-1895 to 1945 The first public high school classes organized in Long Beach were started in the old Tabernacle Building at Third and Locust in l895. The principal of that school, which was composed of both elementary .and high school grades, was Walter S. Bailey. Mrs. Katharine Mosher Campbell, who still resides in Long Beach, was for e short time a student in this school and did some cadet teaching, having charge of the class in Latin. She later entered Stanford, and afterward became the regular teacher of Latin here. lt is notable in this connection, that it was she who first suggested that the new high school annual which appeared first in i903 should be named Caerulea a name taken from Virgil's Aeneid and meaning deep blue sea . lt seems that the high school classes started in the Tabernacle. were later transferred to a store building on Pine Avenue, before being moved to the new high school building at Eighth and American Avenue in lB98. The new school at Eighth and American opened with an enrollment of 43 pupils. The faculty consisted of two teachers and the principal. The first graduate from Long Beach High School was Ernest Shaul who finished his .course in IB97. There were five graduates in the class the next year and fifteen in the Class of '99, The enroll- ment of the high school grew rapidly and in ten years had increased to 643. Miss Jane Harnett, for whom the Harnett Memorial Fund was nameu, was a teacher in the first high school. She attained distinction in her field as a teacher of history. She early became head of her department, a position which she held until her death in I9l8. Miss Harnett tool: an active interest in student affairs and was chiefly instrumental in organizing the student-body and later in changing the form of government to the commission form. Two important considerations now gave rise to an urgent demand that a new high school of the polytechnic type should be built. These considerations were lil to provide ample room for the large and growing enrollment: l2l to provide opportunity for a greatly ex- panded and diversified curriculum. This movement culminated in the voting of bonds in the spring of l9I0, in the amount of S240,000 for a new high school plant. The site finally selected was located at Sixteenth and Atlantic, where thirteen acres were acquired at a cost of Sl3,000. The building plans adopted by the Board of Education called for a central Administration Building, a Science Building, and a Mechanic Arts Building, besides a small cafeteria. The cornerstone of the Administration Building was laid with fitting ceremonies in December, l9I0. The entire group of buildings was completed and made ready for occupancy with thelopening of school in September, l9I I. The curriculum was now expanded to include, beside the regular aca- demic courses which had previously been offered, such practical sub- iects as woodshop, machine shop, welding, auto shop, and mechanical drawing, as well as many of the homemaking subiects for girls, such as foods, clothing, and millinery. The courses in music, art, commerce, science, drematics, and physical education were greatly expanded and improved at this time. Following close upon this expansion of school facilities and subiect offerings came a five-year period of development and expansion of student activities, which was perhaps never equaled in any similar period of the school's history. This period, I9I2-l9l'l, saw the complete reorganization of the student-body government. It was changed from the traditional form with a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. assisted by an advisory board composed of student and faculty members. to the Commission form of government. This tl school has maintained with only minor changes from that time dov to the present. The five-year period referred to above also saw tl establishment' of the Honor Scholarship Society which, so far as known, was the first of its kind in the state and the parent society W the California Scholarship Federation in the organization of which Lol Beach played a leading part. This notable period also brought us o Student Store: our first weekly school paper, High Life: the Gif League: the Junior Chamber of Commerce: and our first military orgar ration. known as the Student Cadet Corps, which was later supersedl by the ROTC. It will be remembered by the alumni and many of tl faculty that it was in l9l5 that the famous Long Beach Pageant w produced by the faculty and students of Polytechnic High Schoi The Pageant was staged in Bixby Park, with nearly a thousand studen participating in the production. Though there was e good admissii charge, the performances continued nightly over an entire week befo capacity audiences of townspeople and visitors from surrounding citis This pageant had much educational and historical value in relatii to this area from the time it was occupied by the Indians precedil the landing of Cabrillo in San Pedro down to modern days. Oth important developments in this period included the presentation of tl first Christmas Concert, a beautiful sacred production which has bei repeated annually ever since and has attracted wide attention. ln tl spring of l9I7 our first opera, The Mikado , was presented by an a high school cast in the school auditorium. lt should be noted that many years before this time and even whi the school was still on the site at Eighth Street and American Avenu student activities began to assume considerable importance thoui limited at first to athletics and debating and a class play from tir to time. Athletics were carried on chiefly under student initiative al direction and with practically no equipment or supplies except su as might be provided by the players themselves or by interesti citizens, with now and than a little help from the Board of Educatic Lockers were built by the team boys themselves in the basement the school building after they had done' the necessary excavating provide room. Materials for the lockers were dry goods boxes an such other lumber as the boys could gather. Padlocks were provid by the users themselves. The showerbath after games had to wi till the boys reached their homes as there were no such luxuries pn vided by the school. Yet, in spite of such difficulties and obstacl athletics went forward from the first, particularly baseball, footb and track, in all of which interscholastic competition with some of 'I Los Angeles high schools, Pasadena, Santa Ana, and others 1 successfully maintained. In the early years of the school. girls' bask' ball was a prominent activity and attracted much interest. Lo Beach held high rank in this sport and in i908 played Lowell Hi of San Francisco for the state championship and won. As the years went by and the high school was moved to the new s at Sixteenth and Atlantic, where there was ample room and faciliti and the student-body was able to finance student activities, t whole program was expanded and took on new importance. Athlet began to provide considerable student revenue after the constructi of a fence around the field so that admission to the games could collected. This fence was built in l9ll-I2 largely by student a teacher labor. In the course of the school's history, Long Beach has achieved hi
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