West Side High School - Legenda Yearbook (Saginaw, MI)

Page 25 text:

HISTORY OF HIGH SCHOOL. In accepting the invitation of the publishers of this annual to write a history of the Saginaw High School from its organization to 1880, I anticipated pleasure from an attempt to arrange in a somewhat connected form the personal recol¬ lections of the high school in its beginning and to supplement them with such data as I might command. I soon discovered that memories, however pleasant they may be, lacked the ele¬ ments of fact that history requires and that when they extend back 30 years and more data fixed by something more definite is essential. The minutes of the meetings of the board of education, statistical reports and like prosy matter furnish the facts which will be of most value. Unfortunately prior to 1869 these re¬ ports are seemingly unaccessible, but what those of that year suggest may make it possible to give the story of the high .school in a way to make it of value, and of interest to those who are proud of it today. The first fact that impresses me is that Saginaw has always

Page 24 text:

Clifford 14 . Upton— Mathematics. Sarah JE. VVoolsey—Drawing. Kate J. Cherry—Music.

Page 26 text:

been proud of its high school, and always able to substantiate the claim that it was among the best in the state. One hears on high school commencement occasions that the high school of today is equal to the college of 30 years ago, and considering what the Saginaw High School was 30 years ago, and the fact that its graduates then as now were prepared to enter the University of Michigan I am inclined to credit the statement. From the most authentic record 1 can find I think that the idea of a high school worthy the name was first realized for the people of Saginaw when Prof. Joseph W. Ewing, now pro¬ fessor of pedagogy in Alma College, assumed the superin¬ tendency of the school in 1867. The Union school building that was the pride of the village in 1852 was then the most pretentious school building in the district, but the Union school building, now the John Moore building, was in process of erec¬ tion. It was in September, ’68, that the schools occupied that new building, which had the distinction among Saginaw- ians at least, of being the finest in the state. In ’67 there were two small classes doing some high school work. There were nine pupils in one class and perhaps the same number in the other although only three of the class of ’67 finished the high school course in ’71. The Union school building was for the accommodation of all grades and the high school and grammar schools occupied one room. In 1868 the teaching of high school branches was conducted by Superintendent Ewing and Miss Lina S. Selova. A feature of school life in the new building which growth has crowded out was the chapel exercises. For some years the hall in the Union building with its seating capacity of more than 800 was occupied every morning by all the pupils of the building, and the high school choir which owed much to its grammar school voices, the chorus singing in which all partici¬ pated, the devotional execis.es lead by Superintendent Ewing and his immediate successors, the words of admonition and encouragement gave to the school something akin to the family relation and afforded an inspiration for best endeavor.