Salina High School - Trail Yearbook (Salina, KS)

Page 12 text:

about to be graduated. Music for the happy occasion was furnished by the high school scholars themselves. The exercises were opened by the invocation and the program was as follows: Song: There's Music in The Air Oration: Song: Fairy Land Oration: Arthur Day lboy graduatel Song: Little Maud Valedictory: Maggie Rash lgirl graduatel Song: The Bugle Horn Arthur Day at first seemed somewhat em- barrassed and assumed a position that ap- peared highly uncomfortable but soon settled himself to a plain and agreeable oration. The title of his oration was, The Progress of Our Country, which was written in a style commendable for its directness. He began his oration with the following quotation: The past has taught its lesson, the present has its duties, and the future its hope. Maggie Rash delivered the valedictory address most admirably. In her address she acclaimed her appreciation for her teacher by saying, All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to the faithful guidance and watchful care of my teacher. The need for a separate high school soon became imperative. When the new high school outgrew its quarters on the third floor of Old Central, the high school was trans- ferred to the third floor of the Red Men's ...6.. building, now over the present day Millers' Lounge and Edgington's Music store, at the corner of Santa Fe and Walnut. There it re- mained in a greatly hampered condition for two or three years in rented apartments. The number of students was steadily growing and soon became too large for the crowded class rooms. The citizens, many of whom had children in the high school, saw that a new building must be furnished for this thriving institution. ln l9OO the high school was moved into its own home: a new two story brick building located at 7th and Mulberry which appeared large and roomy to the admiring eyes of the Salina people. The second fioor was occu- pied by an assembly room, one recitation room, a cloak room, and a hall. The manual training shop and Laboratory were com- bined in the basement. There were several faults in the plan and size of this building. In the first place the plastering used for the ceiling in the assembly room evidently was not the good old-fashioned kind. It came loose and hung in festoons on the ceiling. Whenever some eminent professor or speaker visited the school, and during chapel exer- cises began his speech with, I am sure it's a great pleasure to look into your bright happy faces this morning, he was often in- terrupted by a huge patch of plaster crash- ing to the floor. While he lectured on our op- portunities, some poor unfortunate freshie was busy shaking the sand and plastering

Page 11 text:

Safina High IX 78 to I 953 Dean Porter of the American Legion Post presents W. W. Waring, Director of Secondary Education, a flag at the dedication ofthe new Salina Senior High School on October 28, 1952, In this year of 1953, the 75th graduating class of Salina High is looking back with honor to the two pupils who, in 1878 began our long list of graduates. We have traveled a long road from the horse and buggy day to the day of the souped up hot rod, so have we forgotten the old nickelodeon in favor of the present sound movies and television, and from pot bellied stoves and coal buckets to air-conditioning and gas heat. The first high school in Salina of 1878 held in the Old Central building seems a far cry from the new up-to-date modernistic Salina Senior High School of 1953. ln 1877 the people of the small town of Salina, Kansas, decided they were tired of being ignorant so they formed the first high school which was held on the third floor of the Old Central building, located where The Barn now stands between Lincoln and Roosevelt. On June 14, 1878 a proud boy and girl stood nervously before a group of parents, friends, and well-wishers who had come to the Old Salina Opera house to see the first graduates of the newly founded Salina High School. Upon the stage were clergymen, principals, teachers and two nervous pupils

Page 13 text:

out of her pompadour. To remedy this short- coming the troublesome plastering was scraped off, and soon a handsome white steel ceiling adorned the room. The cloak room accommodations, too, were inadequate. There was one coat hook for about every three persons in some of the halls, so that the rule applied here was first come, first served. This was partly atoned for by the purchase of two mirrors for the girls' use, and although the reflections on the wavy surface rivaled the pictures on the funny pages of the Sunday paper, yet a bevy of vain girls could be seen in front of these mirrors, morning, noon and night. From the first use of this building, the in- adequacy as to size and arrangement was apparent. Soon money was appropriated and work was begun on a new school to be called Washington High. In the year i908 the first shovel full of earth was turned to start the building of this new high school building. This fine structure was completed in i909 and on May 25, 1910, thirty-six students formed its first grad- uating class. The building consisted of three floors and a basement. The rooms in the basement con- sisted of two large manual training wood- working shops, a large gym combined with dressing and shower rooms, plus the furnace room. On the first fioor were the offices of the board of education, superintendent, and principal. Also there were three rooms for household arts, two class rooms, auditorium, and rest rooms. The study hall and a library but was later abandoned for use as a class room. The girls' gym dressing room was then transformed into the library where it re- mained for the rest of the school's life. On the second fioor there was ci large opening called a well placed there for moving pur- poses. Through the years this opening be- came the obiect of many mischievous pranks. About this time a boys' club developed which called itself The Purple Masque. Once yearly the Purple Masque created excitement for the entire school by holding a book raid. ln these raids they broke into Washington, gathered books from class rooms, lockers and the library, and proceeded to drop them through this well to the first floor where they remained until the following day when stu- dents and faculty frantically searched for their own books. After several years of this, steps were taken to halt the pranks of the Purple Masque by punishing those found participating in any way. On the second fioor there were three science laboratories: physics, chemistry, biol- ogy, and lecture room. Terraced steps were placed in all the laboratories for the con- venience of students watching experiments. This was merely a whim of the principal, and they were removed with the coming of the new principal. The balcony of the auditorium