Walnut Hills High School - Remembrancer Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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wmwwmm The Walnut Hills High Jchool wwww HE twn excellent high schools. which for nearly half a century supplied means of advanced secondary education to the ambi- tiuus youth of our city, becoming overcrowded and altogether inadequate m the cultural demands of greater Cincinnati, had to be supplemented by another institution of their class. necessity for establishing another high school The urgent was felt most pressingly by citizens of that part of the city spreading northward to the attractive hiII-tops in the tnwnships of Columbia anrl Milli creek. aml taking in the urban localities 0f Vial- nnt Hills, Mnunt Auburn. Mondale. and Clifton. As early as the your IHSIH active members of the Board of Iitlucation 21nd of the Union Board uf High Schools were practically considering proposals which led to the erection of a commo- dious and really magnificent new high school building. on a lot two hundred feet square, 107 catcd on the corner of Burdett antl Ashland Ave- nues. in the midst nf a population eagerly de- sirous 0f the best educational advantages. 0 10 The schnnt edifice. one of the most elegant public buildings in the city, admirably designed for the acconmmdation of a large school. was unupletctl in the Autumn of 1HHIL at a cost of $1'2Hjnlii, the lot costing an additional $21,th0. The house contains seventeen light, airy recita- tion rooms. a spacious assembly hall. a fme gym- nasium. a good chemical and physical laboratory, and a biological laboratory. besides a general office. a library, and various lavatories. The committee having in charge the construc- tion of this noble building was composed of the following gentlemen: Jacob E. Cormany, H. H. Mithnefcr. Joseph J Parker, H. XV. Allens, and Charles H'vithwr, Jr. The local committee selected from the Union Board of High Schools to exercise supervisory care over the nexx-lyeorganized high school con- sisted, at first, of H. H. Mithnefer. John Schwaab, R. D. Barney, Drausin Wulsin, and William Mc- Callistcr. Since the initial organization, changes

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have, from time to time, been made in the com; position of the committee, by the retirement of some members and the appointment of others, so that the body at present consists of John Schwaab, Chairman; Jacob Schroeder, William J. Klein, L. J. Dauner, and Dr. Robert W. Stewart. The Walnut Hills High School was opened in September, 1895, with a corps of twenty teach- ers and an attendance of 684 pupils. On Friday, October 11, the building was formally dedicated. The Superintendent and the several school officers upon whom devolved the delicate and complicated function of overseeing the affairs of the great school their energy had created were equal to the responsibility. The organization and equipment of the school were completed with more rapidity than was expected, 5'0 that, within a very few weeks from the start, everything was in running order, and a zealous esprit du corps already manifested itself among the pupils, Necessarily the success of the school must de- pend upon the Vigilance and hdelity 0f the teaching body. Six of the teachers were transferred from the older high schools: two from Hughes, Mr. Bishop and Mr. Venable; four from Woodward, Mr. A. S. Henshaw, Miss Rachel V. Wheeler, Mrs. C. D. Klemm, and Miss Eulalie Artois. Other experienced instructors were selected from varii ous schools in which they had won reputation, or were chosen on account of high attainments in college. Mr. H. E. Newman, teacher of chemis try and physics, had been instructor in the Uni- versity. Mr. Julius Fuchs was placed in Charge 11 0f the German teaching. Mr. Arthur Knoch was called to direct the athletic training of the pupils and to have charge of the gymnasium. Without specifying the grades to which they were as- signed, 01- the particular branches by them taught, we here record the rest of the names of those who formed the teaching corps in the first two years of the history of the school. These are: Miss Mary E. Magurk, Miss Henrietta Reuschel, Miss Helen Shrader, Miss Belle Woods, Miss Margaret E. Layman, Miss Agatha Hope Rice, Miss Jane S. OtHara, Miss Eleanor Passel, Miss Esther H. Hagen, Miss Mamie E. Walker, and Miss Alma Diserens. The Special department of drawing was conducted by Miss Frances Kohnky, and the musical directorship 0f the school was intrusted to Mr. Joseph Surdo, Since the organization of the faculty, in 1895, several changes have been made: Miss Hagen and Miss Walker both resigned in 1H97, and in January of the same year Miss Laura E. Aldrich was appointel teacher of elocution in the new school. In the following year, 1898, Miss Alice L. Bette, Miss Louise Spilman, and Miss Alma. S. Fick were added to the teaching force, and in 1899 Mme. Eleanor Peltier was appointed teacher of French. She resigned in 1900, and M. Nonnez was called to fill her place. Miss Diser- ens withdrew in 1899, and Miss Frances Kohnky was transferred to Hughes. Dr. W. H. Venable resigned in 1900, and his son, Emerson Venable, was appointed to succeed him as teacher of litera- ture, Miss Magurk has gone to Woodward School and Miss Rice to Hughes, from which MiSS Frances Kohnky and Miss Nora Ettlinger have