Southwest High School - Roundup Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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THE STORY OF SOUTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL By JIM GIBSON The events which led to the eventual erection of Southwest High School began in 1922. During the months of July, August, and November of that year, the Board of Education in the City of Saint Louis completed plans for the purchase of the site of ground between Arsenal and Kingshighway Streets for use at some future time. During the next eleven years conditions in Saint Louis reflected conditions throughout the country. The Public Works Association was organized by the Federal Government in 1933 to facilitate recovery from the disaster of 1929 through the encouragement of building programs. Superintendent Henry J. Gerling recommended the building of a high school on the site purchased by the Board of Education in 1922. The board approved the suggestion and at once applied to the Public Works Administration for a grant of iS600,000. In March of 1934, the Commissioner of school buildings, Ernest F. Freton, submitted a preliminary report on the plans for the building which would cost approximately S1,005,000. Two names for the building were suggested: Denton J. Snider, and A. L. Wissman. The Board sent a special committee consisting of Mr. Blumeyer, Mr. Fitzgerald, and a group of Saint Louis oHicials to Washington, D. C., to confer with the Federal authorities. They were favorably received, and after being referred to the Assistant Administrator of Public Works, Colonel Clark, they were informed that the grant had been approved. ' Thirteen

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In March, 1935, the bids on the original plans were rejected and the Com- missioner of School Buildings was directed to prepare new plans in conformity with recommendations of the Superintendent of Instruction. The next few months were filled with the submission and selection of bids, until, finally, on November 27, 1935, the oilice of the contractors and engineers was erected. It was a small frame building that is remembered only because it was the start of actual work. Soon after, on Monday, December 3, 1935, the ground was broken and excavation for pier foundations was begun, W The cornerstone of the new S800,000 building was finally laid on Decem- ber 10, 1936. There had been some delay in laying the cornerstone due to a controversy over the naming of the school. A short time after this great event, Eugene H. Paulus, of the Building Department, was sent out to super- intend the construction of the school. Months followed, during which contracts were signed, janitors and matrons were appointed to their oflices in the building, and the ceremony of placing the sculptured figures over the entrance was completed. The last chapter in this brief history is the first chapter in the life of the school. On September 7, 1937, Southwest High School opened with an enrollment of twelve hundred students. The controversy over the naming of the school that began in 1934 has not been settled, leaving the name of the school undecided. But a bare tract of land, a vision, a plan, a building-and a dream has become a reality. Fourteen