Strong Vincent High School - Spokesman Yearbook (Erie, PA)

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From the Beginning — A History of Erie’s First High School Now, as she stands on the threshold of a strange and undecided des- tiny, what is more fitting than that Central shall pause at the top of the hill and survey in retrospection, her brilliant history? Some of her victories and defeats are a little dimmed by age, but how wonderful it is to be old, very old and wise. Ah yes, her outside shell is broken and crumbling but her spirit, her real self is only in its prime. Central is sixty-two years old. Nearly five thousand students have wended their way out into life from her portals, the vast majority of them successful and some famous. In the year 1866, the School Board decided to consolidate the higher classes of the three schools of the city in the third story of the School Building No. 2 at Seventh and Holland Streets. This was the beginning of the high school in Erie. As in all new projects, some molding and change characterized the first few years of its existence. An examination, including questions regarding fractions, United States money, boundaries of states and the names of twenty rivers and cities, was required for admission. However, the age of the student counted more than his standing in the examination. Although the new institution was called a high school the work covered during the first year was of elementary calibre. Soon advanced courses were added and the school’s thoroughness earned for it the reputation of one of the best schools in the country. It received words of commendation from President Eliot of Harvard. The High School, with its one hundred and forty-four students, occu- pied the first floor of the building and No. 2 School the rest. There were two sessions of four periods each, in those days, one from 9 to 12 and the other from 1:30 to 4:30. Two interesting customs of the old school were the exercises in Gen- eral Information and the Public Friday, both of which took place in the study hall before the school. A most entertaining feature of the program was the reading of the school diary which was kept by a student. There was one society, “The Volunteers” which had a two weeks’ camping trip every summer. Another prominent organization was the Chess Club. The first principal of the High School, Colonel J. M. Wells, was suc- ceeded by Mr. William Reed, who was in charge for two years. In Septem- ber, 1875, the school moved from its first quarters to the old Academy building at Ninth and Peach Streets, but in March, 1877, moved back to No. 2 School, where it remained until September, 1891. Progress was so rapid, that in 1869 the school was able to graduate its first class of two members, a boy and a girl. 8