Roxbury Memorial High School for Boys - Bostonian Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Ghee History Roxbury Memorial High School for Boys, situated in the east wing of the building, will forever exist in the minds and hearts of those who attend it. How we, as freshmen, enjoyed the new experience of the large gymnasium and track and yearned to take military drill, the glamorous privilege of the upper classes! Also we remember our swinging talent show, the forums and sports activities, and the curiosity about what went on beyond that little green door. In our sophomore year we were still in the boys’ school. In sports our basketball team won the City Championship of 1958. The Bostonian kept us informed of sports events as well as of other happenings about school. The Schoolboy Parade was our first and last. We did our part to keep Memorial alive, helping circulate the alumni petitions. As juniors, we were deprived of military drill and gym because of the reduced enrollment. Also we were transferred to the west end of the building, beyond the mysterious door, and our curiosity was finally satisfied. This was our first year without a talent show. Sportswise, Dorchester was defeated by Memorial's football team for the first time, and our hockey team had its most successful season. Memorial's track team won the Class C relay in the State meet, and Toon went to the Nationals. Roxbury Memorial High School for Girls has undergone vast changes since we entered, welcomed by Dr. Nash at the Big Sister Party. We joined clubs, wrote for the Enterprise, and became aware of the “green door” at the end of the corridor. As sophomores, our class was greatly enlarged, and Miss Margaret C. Carroll became our headmaster. We were isolated on the third floor, but we remember class elections and Induction Day, when we learned the significance of Mother Memorial. We discovered what was behind the green door, but didn’t venture beyond it. As juniors, we were saddened by the decision to terminate R.M.H.S., which meant the departure of so many beloved teachers, but the few remaining upheld the spirit of Memorial. We moved to the second floor, still the underclass. The junior year was highlighted by Student Exchange Day, the Christmas-Chanukah Party, Career Day, Forums, and assemblies. The climax was the Green and Gold Jubilee at the Vendome. At last the ‘green door’ was partially opened when science and language classes became coeducational. We learned with sorrow that Miss Carroll would leave us. She was the headmaster who guided us through most of our high school career, instilling a respect for high standards of achievement and conduct. We hope that we may live up to the ideals she made us love, and that she will remember us as we remember her, with affection and gratitude. May we strive to make her always proud of us, for she never failed to encourage our every effort. Both boys and girls, combined as Roxbury Memorial High School, at last entered the senior year, so long awaited, the year of class rings, yearbook, class night, and the senior prom. We had hoped that we might have a junior class to lead and inspire, but forces beyond our control prevented this. Both schools had been combined under the boys’ head- master, Dr. Paul B. Crudden. In spite of their different backgrounds, both groups got along well, and our elected President, a girl, was unopposed. With such highlights as Induction Day, Christmas Party, the Fashion Show, and our revived track team, we upheld Memorial's spirit and ideals to the very end. 52

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History Because the passing of a great institution merits some note, we recall in the pages of this last yearbook a few highlights of the history of Roxbury Memorial High School. Roxbury had no completely free public high school until 1852, when the School Committee decided to offer instruction to boys in non-classical subjects and founded the Roxbury High School. The school opened at what is now 120 Dudley Street, but in 1853 it was relocated on Kearsarge Avenue. Next year similar opportunities were offered for girls in a building on Kenilworth Street. Here in 1860 the schools were united. With the annexation of Roxbury in 1868, Roxbury High passed to the control of the Boston School Board. In 1891, the ‘magnificent new structure’’ on Warren Street was built, planned for about five hundred fifty pupils; and almost immediately it was filled. Roxbury High then had a three-year course, but about fifty returned each year for additional college preparation. In 1910 the boys were transferred to other schools. So many girls applied that in that year the authorities established in the William Lloyd Garrison District a colony which in 1912 was moved to the Baker School. In September of this year an addition was com- pleted, increasing the capacity by about five hundred more pupils. In 1916 another annex in the Baker School was required. In 1919 a second annex was established in the High School for Practical Arts, and was moved to the Winthrop Street School during 1921 and 1922. Citizens and the Roxbury Civic League urged that the Roxbury High School be pro- vided with a satisfactory building. In 1923 the Williams homestead on the corner of Warren and Townsend Streets was purchased. In September, 1926, Roxbury High School changed both site and name. It was now called Memorial High School, in honor of the six Boston Public School teachers who gave their lives in the first World War: Frank P. Kelley, Peter A. Landrigan, James R. Mahoney, Warren E. Robinson, William B. Corbett, and James E. Welch, Jr. Roxbury Memorial High for Boys and Roxbury Memorial High for Girls were housed together in this new building, with the girls’ school in the Humboldt Avenue end and the boys’ school in the Warren Street end, each having its own headmaster, faculty, and students. In 1958, however, both schools were grieved by the School Committee's vote to discontinue Memorial High School after 1960 and to give the building to Technical High School. There was no registration of freshmen and sophomores for 1958-1959, and juniors and seniors returned in September, 1958, for the last year in which each school enjoyed a separate existence. Finally, in 1959-1960, the co-educational class of 1960 trod the halls of Memorial for the last time. Thus ended one hundred and eight years of service to the people of Roxbury. 5]

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