Roosevelt High School - Rohian Yearbook (Virginia, MN)

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R h' s S y '-Wm , g ,1' F j ' An Anniversary Edition 5-fat of fic flfazfi Raymond Newman, Managing Editor Dwight Burton, Associate Editor ' Mary Agnes Johnson, Assistant Editor Joyce Gustafson, Lay-out Editor ' ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL VVIRGINIA, MINNESOTA

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060 073.46 dlfl d 4 Turning back the faded pages of time, we may, once again, arrive on the unpaved streets of the busy little indus- trial center which was early Virginia. Some- where in this small set- tlement we could easily seek out one of the town's finest buildings, the high school. This first Roosevelt build- ing was dedicated on November 22, 1904, with the well-remembered Lafayette Bliss officiating at the solemn ceremony. As an appropriate portion of the dedicatory serv- ices, Superintendent Bliss read a letter from President Theodore Roosevelt in which th President extended congratulations to the Virginia Public Schools and enclosed an autographed photograph of himself. In 1901, the Roosevelt High School turned out its first graduating class, O. H. Griggs. Following Mr. Griggs were four graduates in 1902. More substantial classes were turned out at the succeeding commencements, at ceremonies which were impressive despite the fact that the audi- torium in which they were held was then only an enlarged classroom. During these early years, various high school activities were introduced. At in- tervals, student staffs under the direction of the superintendents, edited yearbooks in which they offered such advice to the graduates as, Go, my sons and daughters, into the sea of life, but avoid the rocks of overconfidence and bad habits , and in- cluded such features as rules governing the Board of Education, the duties of the jan- itors, courses of study, a list of public library books, programs, and the Superin- tendent's Annual Report. Perhaps less in- teresting, but necessary, was the section of commercial advertising, covering every- thing from the Fay Opera House to an advertisement by the Virginia Daily En- terprise . Early forensic activities were represented by a public prize debate held every year, with the earliest gold-medal winner being Adolph F. Holmer in a brilli- ant argument in which Russia's civilization was rated more modernistic than Japan's. ln the earliest years as at the present, music played a prominent part. ln 1905, Roosevelt boasted a fourteen-member Boys' Glee Club, a number which exceeded the 1939 enrollment. A city band of twenty- one members was organized. Musical re- citals were given at intervals, one of which featured a piano solo by Axel B. Dahl, now serving as Virginia city detective. Spelling matches were held during the years, with the victors being featured in the year- books. Early athletics were represented by football and track teams. ln 1905, Roose- velt's five-man track team won its first laurels by wresting a championship cup from Eveleth. Gymnasium exercises were carried on by pushing back the chairs of the auditorium to improvise a gym. Holi- day occasions, such as Washington's Birth- day and Memorial Day, were observed with more ceremony than at present. On one Memorial Day, one thousand school chil- dren gathered to march down the main street of Virginia, led by a pompous, silk- hatted individual on horseback. Through the years, these beginnings, which took root during Roosevelt's horse and buggy days , furnished the foundation for the organization of our school as it appears at the Golden Anniversary.