Pontiac Senior High School - Quiver Yearbook (Pontiac, MI)

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The Growth of the Pontiac High School By SARAH MCCARROLL ROM the first graduating exercises in 1867 to the present seems a long time, yet many years before that, schools under various names were the forerunners ofthe diploma schools. Pontiac had several private schools in the early 'days- The Pontiac English and Classical School, Pontiac Literary Society, Female Seminary, Literary Institute, l'ontiac High School tin the present Hallett Blockl, Young Ladies' Select School, were some of the attractive names for the early seats of learning. Perhaps the most important of all was The Academy, built by the Old Pontiac Company and situated where now stands the Davis lllock. This academy afterward became a branch of the University of Michigan. l'ro- fessor George P. Wlilliams, called from Kenyon College, Ghio, was its First and only principal. There were twenty-five or thirty young men in attend- ance. for admitting women at that time would have been an innovation for Pontiac. Other branch schools were at Monroe, Tecumseh, Niles. White Pigeon, Kalamazoo, Romeo and Detroit. English and the classics were the chief subjects taught. There were two aims: to fit for the Cniversity and for teaching. The principal's salary was from S1200 to 551500-a good salary for those days. Tuition by the year was from S12 to 31950. All these branch schools admitted girls except Niles, Detroit and l'ontiac. The Pontiac branch closed its doors in 1840, the regents deciding that they could no longer divide their interest between the branch schools and the University. However, the people of Pontiac who protested against the lack of interest in education in this town, said that the branch school was closed for lack of any interest taken. In 184-l or 1845 was started the Pontiac Educational Society. A committee of five, among whom was the late Hon. M. E. Crofoot, drafted a constitution for the society. On September 25, 18-16, l'ontiac people said: There is one school district where there should be three or four. Xlany children are receiv- ing no education. Every New Englander should blush for shame. The fact is unpleasant that no village with one-fourth the population of Pontiac is so badly off. The fault is the indifference of the people of wealth. Now in earnest they began to plan for a union school and a library. A site was selected-that of the present Central school. lly hluly, 1854, two hundred dollars was ordered raised for a bell, so the school was started in earnest. Johnson A. Corbin, a Harvard man, was in charge from 185-l to 186-l. In 1858, Lewis Drake and C. S. Draper entered the Cniversity on certificate from the Old Union. Mr. Draper afterward became a regent of the Univer- sity. Some will remember the old square brick building with green blinds surmounted by a dome and facing the millpond. Around the grounds was a high picket fence. The playgrounds of the boys and girls had a line of demar- cation-a fence. On the boundary line was the well with its iron-bound bucket. Nearly everyone indulged in some kind of sport. The millpond. with the river above as far as Saginaw street bridge, made an ideal skating place, While the hill back of the school was line for coasting, and the bobsled of the superintendent held all who could crowd on. In 1867 there was a graduating class of seven-live girls and two boys. Ella Gaylord, Maggie Hubbell, Charlotte Tyler, Addie -lennelle, Emma L. Comstock, Richard Hudson and Charles Chandler. Richard Hudson later became a professor in the University of Michigan: Charles Chandler a pro- fessor in the University of Chicago. Finally the Old Union failed to accommodate its numerous pupils. The grove which formed a part of the Palmer estate was selected as a fitting site for a new building. Soon the Grove High School crowned the hill. The dedicatory exercises were held August 30, 1871. A clever poem, Cui Bono, was written for the occasion by the Hon. Henry M. Look. The first superin-

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tendent of the Grove school was Charles S. Fraser, who died recently in P01't Huron. The first class to graduate in the new building, that' of 1872 cpfl' sisted of five members: Enoch M. Beebe, Ella M. Crissey, Alice P. Myrick Arthur Tripp and joseph O. Ripley. The last named member of the class became famed as a civil engineer. In 1911 he was given the honorary degree Master of Engineering. Mr. Ripley went to China In 1918 with 3 P3ftY of expert engineers whom he had organized. l This party went for a year and a half to make surveys and plans for enlarging the Grand Canal of'Ch1na: It was during the superintendency of J. C. jones that the University decided to put Pontiac on the diploma list, for before that time pupils were required to take entrance examinations. VVhile Professor Frieze was acting president of the University, between the resignation of President Haven and the coming of President Angell, two important acts were passed. One was that women should be admitted: the other that students from a school doing work satis- factory to an examining committee should be admitted on diploma. The class of 1873 was the first to take advantage of these privileges, three boys and one girl entering college that fall. Eva Chandler was thus the first Pontiac girl to take advantage of the act concerning woman's entrance to our state institution. Miss Chandler has been professor of mathematics in Welles- ley College most of the time since graduation. Will' W'l Y 1a 1 son, of the class of 1877, as the wife of VValter Hines Page, our late ambassador to the court of St. james, has been much esteemed in diplomatic circles. From the class of 1818 was chosen as one of the Board of Regents, John Grant, the late Judge Grant of Manistee. Many were the classes that graduated in the Grove School, but the build- ing was no longer suitable for modern methods of instruction, especially in the sciences. It was considered unsafe, it had had its day and must give way to a more modern structure. The class of 1912 said farewell to the old regime. The students of 1913 and 1914 were without a sure place of abode. They were bestowed in buildings familiarly designated as shacks. The Wanderers might recite in the kitchen or the parlor of a former home. You might be directed to the first floor, first turn to the right, or upstairs, second turn to the left. Owing to the limited hall space, you might find your ,hat on the Floor serving as an umbrella holder. Those were days of -Ieffersonian sim- Jlicity. , I By 1915, after two years of this wandering, the students found their dreams of dwelling in marble halls realged. The classes of 1913 and 1914 might well have said, Others shall sing the song and all we fail of win. It was during the superintendency of G. L. Jenner that the new Grove building was dedicated. The citizens of our town took pleasure in the gift that they were so freely bestowing on their children. Indoors there was everything in the line of equipment for work and amusement-workrooms study halls recitation rooms, laboratories, an extensive library, a swimming pool a find gymnasium and a beautiful auditorium i l most restful to th ' 't ' architectural beauty. Could any student ask more? Withoilteye In I T qulet . , I - was a p easant garden where one m1ght wander at will. This year college high school work has been started. The junior high boys and girls are no longer called gram- mar school pupils. Thus by various steps from private schools and a branch school of twent -fi ' ' ' y ve or thirty pupils, have we bec I 1 ' under one roof Are we not again becom' Ome a Wwe City housed Univergityp ' Ing a branch school for the Pontiac men chosen as regents men of distin t' ' ' f . N 1 h G. I. Wfhittemore 1837' ' ' C lon m t e early times' were , ,wllllall D df 1 18581, 1840, Randolph Manni11g1l8-i3peChf5-lan timer of C' S' Draper of . 1 5 . Palmer CHuron Street across from high schooll, 18f2g d H es - - saYs that to be as good as odr faili emy C. Knight' 1864' Wvendeu Phillips -1 h a ers we must b b tt . ' the efforts of these pioneers in educational mattefs, iihdesre fiiikehgldhblililhmk of well-fitted for the honors of the regenc m 1 ' il y men' be better than our fathers P yi ay WL not ask Ourselves' Can we Earth holds up to her M 1 - ga-V , I 7 Y aster no fruit but the finished man. in 1 A .. of