Salina High School - Trail Yearbook (Salina, KS)

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and five class rooms composed the rest of the second floor. The third floor had several class rooms, but it was only a short time until it was condemned because of its poor con- struction and lack of fire escapes, it was then used for storage. As the need for these third floor class rooms became imperative, cot- tages located to the east side of Washington were built. Dear Ole Washington with its closed third floor, rickety stairs, kinky library, and ever falling plaster, lasted for 42 years, until the completion of the new Salina Senior High School. The Salina Senior High School, located on the corner of Front and Crawford Streets, was begun on April 24, l950 and was com- pleted enough for occupancy by September of l952, at a cost of approximately 2 V4 mil- lion dollars. The building, comprising ap- proximately l50,000 square feet of floor space, is constructed in a U type plan and located on the North West one-fourth of a 40 acre school tract. On Monday, October 27, 1952, the offi- cial dedication program was held. Mr. W. M. Ostenberg, superintendent of schools, pre- sided at the dedication and introduced the program. The evening was opened with The National Anthem sung by a member of the senior class, John Ryberg. A brief concert by the senior high school orchestra, was fol- lowed by the invocation given by the Rev. -8- James S. Elliott, president of the Salina Min- isterial Association. Charles E. Hawkes, formerly superintend- ent of Salina Schools, representing the build- ing architects and contractors, presented the building to the city with Wayme E. Dailey, president of the Salina Board of Education, accepting. The following two nights an open house was held with approximately l0,000 people touring the building. Some of the features of the Salina Senior High School are the library, with its pleasant, quiet surroundings, away from the shops and music departments. lt has indirect lighting and is spacious with room for study, shelv- ing, storing and book repair. The gymnasium, which will seat approxi- mately 3,000 fans at a game as is, has roll-away bleachers to allow adequate floor space for gym classes, has a special section for band, and a standard basketball playing floor. All rooms may be reached from office through an intercom system at one time by the flick of a switch, special messages may be sent to single rooms in case of emergency. This device saves time, labor, and much paperwork. The beauty spot of the building is the auditorium with its l,400 permanent seats arranged so they are alternated. lt has mod-

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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

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ern lighting, finest acoustics, and is arranged so it is easily accessible to music and dra- matics departments and can be reached from outside or inside without disturbing classrooms. Even as the building has changed, so has the curriculum of the Salina High School. Before 1900 most of the subiects that were taught were iust the bare essentials such as English, history, and social science. As the years passed, vocational subiects were added for the benefit of each student. One of these subjects was glee club, which has become our present mixed chorus classes, with their annual presentations of a musical and variety show plus many outside public appearances. Among the new subiects introduced about the turn of the century was printing and shop. Since these beginning days the industrial de- partment has seen the most changes of any department. From the boiler room of Wash- ington, where welding was first established, this department has undergone many addi- tions of machine classes and is one of the most important departments of the school. Although shorthand was taught for some- time before, more subiects of this type have been added, such as typing, bookkeeping, and office practice. One of the more recent additions in the commercial fields is the dis- tributive education class, established in 1947. This class enables a student to carry on a part time iob and he is also taught how to meet the public in various kinds of business life. The language department has not changed greatly in the past 25 years. In 1925 Latin was a four year course with the last two years known as Cicero and Virgil. Now only two years are taught. From these language courses, clubs were organized. The Spanish Club, La Sociedad Castillana, was begun in 1925, with thirty members. As the years continued, the club has expanded to more than fifty members at the present time. ln 1945 the club's name was changed to La Cumparcita. The Latin Club was organized in 1924. The last language club to be organized was the German Club which was started in 1951 . The Dramatics Club was organized in 1918 but was reorganized in 1945 by .lack Kelly. Dramatics and Music Clubs, which first met in 1949, are the only clubs in which students must be voted to membership. A few of the more recent club additions are Writers' Club which was started in 1950, and Library Club in 1951. Sports, of course, is one of the big attrac- tions of the school, although Salina High athletics did not begin until 1900. Athletics came with the completion of the new Central High with its new accommodations for such activities-these being baseball and tennis. No other means of recreation were added until basketball, in 1904. Both boys' and girls' teams were organized. Track began several years later, also about this time the Athletic Association and S Club. Later the Letterman's Club was organized. ln 1911 boys' and girls' physical educa-