Wilkinsburg High School - Annual Yearbook (Wilkinsburg, PA)

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A History of Wilkinsburg Schools To write a compact, accurate, yet brief account of the schools of this commun- ity, has been a ditiicult task for several reasonsg first, because of the lack of accurate data on this subject, second, because there are so many little, yet important details which go to make such a history interesting. and third, because there is no definite source from which all facts may be obtained. In spite of these things, we have tried to pick the true from the false, the interesting from the monotonous, the facts from the suppositions, and to give appropriate background and due respect to that class which lirst graduated from our high school fifty years ago this spring. About the year 1840, Mr. James Kelly, a prominent citizen of the town, for this district at that time was Wilkins Township, contributed money toward the tirst pub- lic school in this district. FU It was a simple log structure with one ' ,T V room, located somewhere near the site of the , --if ' yk present Semple School. The next building gf' X 1 e mf? in the district was a one-story brick building iii - gc? g ffl ,. situated on what is now the corner of Center J ,gi and Wallace Avenues. It was later used as -Ur Pl-:.- Q i '51-7 ' A a carpenter shop where most of the caskets 35:21, E E551-7' for this district were made. This was fol- lowed in 1850 by a two-room brick structure AR'risT's CONCEPTION oy . on the same site but nearer North Avenue. FiRsT Scitool. In 1872 a frame building was built on the same site but facing on Wallace Avenue. These buildings were all public schools, but in 1852 a private academy was erected on the southwest corner of Center and VVallace. This building was bought in 1875 to provide more room for the growing school. Until 1877 the village school system had been rather complicated. At that time Mr. J. D. Anderson, who was interested in education and the schools of the community, was selected principal and given charge of the schools. From that time, the schools of Wilkinsburg took great strides forward until they were consid- ered among the best in Allegheny County. This fact was proved by the great number of students from outlying districts who preferred coming to school in VVilk- insburg under Mr. Anderson's supervision to attending the schools in their own districts. At that time, the primary grades were taught in the new frame building which contained four school rooms and a hall where town meetings were held. The intermediate grades were housed in the old brick building next door. The gram- mar grades were housed in the old academy across the street. Assisting Mr. Ander- son were four teachers.