Rolla High School - Growler Yearbook (Rolla, MO)

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Rolla-Hi Editorial Staff. N2 N2 N2 DIXIE HARRIS, - - - ERIC SCHUMAN, HELEN BAYSINGER, WALTER SCOTT, CLEMENTINE MAGGI, RUTH KEELING, - - OTTO KRUEGER, HAZEL DENT, - Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor Business Manager Athletic Director Literary Editor - Art Editor Advertising Manager - Social Editor

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The Flistory of the Rolla Ixligh School Buildizig. Y XS Ni The high school building is one of the most interesting in Rolla. It has had a varied and turbulent existence, and more varied and strange are the stories handed around concerning it. There is no written record of this building, so I have been compelled to gather most of the material for this brief history from information given me by some of the older citizens of the town. Some things have been given to me in one way by one person, and in an entirely different way by another, and other things no one seems to be able to remember at ally but I have attempted to obtain as complete a knowl- edge of my subject as has been available, and to make the correct selection wheresoever I have found contradictions. The building occupies the lot in the southeast corner of the block on which the Central Grade School is located. The description of the lot in the deeds of transfer is as follows: Beginning 120 ft. S. of the NE. corner Block 47, then W. 60 ft., then S. to N. line of 5th St., then E. on N. line of 5th St. to SE. corner of said Block 47, then N. on W. line of Main St. to place of beginning, all in Block 47, Bishop Addition to the City of Rolla. The lot was deeded to George Goettelmann and his wife, Catherine, on April 16, 1868, by Edmund W. Bishop, for 3250. In the same year Mr. Goet- telmann erected the present high school building. The date 1868, and the name G. Goettelmann may be seen today carvedlon a limestone tablet set high in the east wall of the structure. This Mr. Goettelmann was an uncle of Mrs. John Falls, who now lives across the street east of the high school. The building was then one of the most beautiful in Rolla. It was made of red brick, with limestone foundation and window sillsg the dimen- sions were twenty-eight feet wide by forty-eight feet long, and it had two stories, besides an attic and a basement. There was a frame porch running across the south side and over the south door on the east side. The building Yvasdelegantly furnished, especially in the second story, where the family ive . Among the many odd things we hear concerning the place, is that a man was killed there while it was used as a saloon: but Mrs. A. S. Long, who has lived here ever since it was built, says that this is a mere story, which may have arisen from the fact that a young man named Huffmeister, who was quite often at the house to call on Mr. Goettelmann's daughters, was, while out riding, thrown out of the buggy and killed. April 30, 1870, George Goettelmann and wife mortgaged the property for 32,000 to James R. Bowman: and June 24, 1876, it was sold to David Branson for S2,010, to satisfy the mortgage. Mr. Branson owned the build- ing until his death five years later. It was probably during this period that it was rented to A. K. Coppedge for a grocery store. Although it is gener- ally believed that the building served in the capacity of a butcher shop about this time, yet I have found that this was not the case. There was, however, zimbutcher shop across the street, and the report probably arose from this act. May 11, 1881, the heirs of David Branson transferred the property to Elizabeth J. Owen, but since several properties were transferred by the