St Mary of the Mount High School - St Mary Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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Mimi-Tiri » riSc ■ ' I ' I ' I ' I ' 1 i-i-U-J.i i.CE Dramatic Club of 1914 Front Row: Mary Flaiinery, Alice Cavanaugh, Helen Connelly, Sarah Jones. Second Row: Marie Barrett, Margaret Clark, Ann Burke, Susan DiRana, Eliza Kane, May Balzer, Mary Heffernan, Gertrude Schroth. Third Row: Joseph Curran, Carl Tiegel, Charles Blume, James Russell, Ben. Deny, James Conwell, Thomas Finn, John Murray. Fourth Roii ' : Jos. Conwell, John Wolfe, Randal Foley, James Eckerle. |15,000 home, to be erected on any ground selected and provided by the prize winner. Announcement of the victory came to Miss Billante in a letter from George T. Barrows, President of the Electric League of Pittsburgh, which began: Dear Miss Billante: We are pleased to inform you that you have won first prize for girls in the Better Home Lighting Contest recently conducted by the Electric League of Pittsburgh. In another letter Mr. Barrows wrote: I want to extend my heartiest congratidations on your success in winning a prize in the Better Home Lighting Contest. There were over four thousand contestants in this vicinity, so that your primer and essay had to be of particular merit to win a prize. Through the years the school has not waned in its scholastic rating but rather God ' s blessing upon the efforts of the zealous priests and sisters and the self-sacrificing parishioners is most apparent.

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At its inception the school was organized as a grade school, but just one year after its opening, Father Griffin saw fit to add a two-year Commercial Department. Graduates from the school had no difficulty in securing positions with the various business firms of the city. To provide for those pupils who desired a more complete education than that offered by the commercial department. Father Griffin added the academic course of four years. Under the wise and efficient direction of Mother M. Cyril who, after the completion of her term of office as superior-general, had been assigned as principal of the school on the Mount, the growth and sticcess of the school were rapid. In 1917, just three years after St. Mary of the Mount High School was established, registration by the Bureau of Education was secured. The first academic class, graduated in 1918, were Daniel O. McFadden, J. Howard Devlin, J. Raymond O ' Donnell, Gladys Heg- ner, and Rosalia Krill. From the very beginning the pupils of St. Mary of the Mount School distinguished themselves in scholastic endeavors. For example, in 1924 the following write-up ap- peared in the Pittsburgh Catholic: ST. MARY OF THE MOUNT ADDS TO DIOCESE LUSTRE Children of Father Griffin ' s Paristi Capture Tliree Prizes in Hibernians ' Nation- wide Contest St. Mary of the Mount School, the pride of the big congregation of Father E. P. Griffin, Ph.D., Mt. Washington, winner of many scholarships and other prizes, has again added lustre to the Pittsburgh Diocese by capturing first, second and fifth prizes in the nation-wide contest for essays on Irish history initiated by the Ancient Order of Hibernians . . . Also, in 1924, the following headline prefaced a very laudatory article commending Mary Billante, a student at the Mount at that time: St. Mary of the Mount High School Girl 16 Wins First Prize for Girls in $18,000 Contest of Electric League of America Gets First Honors in More Than 4,000 Primers and Essays Turned in by School Children of the Pittsburgh Section. St. Mary of the Mount Takes Three in Twelve of Total for Girls to Go Up to Judges for National Judging As the Catholic is going to press it learns that Mary Billante, 16-year-old Italian pupil of the St. Mary of die Mount High School, Mt. Washington, has won the first jsrize, Pittsburgh section, in the $18,000 contest conducted by the Electric League of America. This same high school won in the girls ' division, also the eighth, ninth and twentieth prizes, so that this single school has three, or one- fourth of the total of twelve winners whose primers and essays will now go on to New York for national judging for the capital prizes, the first of which is a

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For example, pupils of the Mount ' s 1956 graduating class, through competitive examinations opened to all the high schools of the city of Pittsburgh, received one full and two half scholarships to Duquesne University. One of the winners, Marilyn Hays, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hays of Amabell Street, received the highest rating of all those Avho took the examinations. This distinction merited for her not only a full tuition scholarship to the University but also the coveted General Motors scholarship which covers all expenses — tuition, board, books and fees. Half scholar- ships to the University were awarded to Greta Gilmartin, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. A. J. Gilmartin of Grandview Avenue and Paul Michel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Michel of Homestead. May God continue to hold our school in the Palm of His Hand! Because of the increased enrollment and the addition of a four year high school cotirse, it was necessary for Father Griffin to apply to Marywood, the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for more sisters. More sistei ' s, of course, necessitated more room and the convent that had served the sisters since 1910 now proved most inadequate. In 1914, Father Griffin was fortunate in being able to purchase through the serv- ices of a Mr. King, property across from the school. The house, known as The Cliff House was a very beautiful and attractive home owned by the Riehl family. Much renovating and remodeling was necessary before the sisters could move into their new convent. About two years later a new wing which provided a very lovely and spacious com- munity room and additional sleeping quarters for the sisters was added. Then in 1924, the Malloy Residence, just adjacent to the convent, was procured. The first floor of this hotise was used for the music department, while the second and third floors sup- plied more sleeping quarters to the ever-growing community of sisters. These two houses served as comfortable quarters for the sisters tmtil 1955 when both building? were razed to make way for the new and modern St. Mary of the Mount Convent and High School. When the sisters were established in their new convent at 710 Grandview Avenue, the former convent was converted into classrooms. These classrooms were used for all high school classes. This arrangement was most beneficial in relieving the over- crowded conditions of the grade school. However, the high school continued to grow; state requirements became more stringent. If St. Mary of the Mount were to main- tain its high scholastic prestige, further expansion was necessary. The difficulty was tentatively overcome by the ptnxhase of two portable buildings which vere erected on the space formerly used as the tennis courts. Both these buildings were used for fresh- men classrooms.