William Tennent High School - Per Annos Yearbook (Warminster, PA)

Page 51 text:

vga My , ..u..J,,'fQf?,Wivmp ,, 5 J A v ' .f NN -K A A--xy V1f'725-QQ. -N N :E 1 . X M : e x--f-..- , H E n E F 1 -X Q ' S SE -D 5' is I wrt., 3-E if 5 5 2. z S'-2 . 2-EE- QS! 3 r -ess S S22 2 SEE: ww -, ,M '----z 1 L r if J , I., ' M? W IF in K V I is M Mi, 55 W1 Hia 1 I V,, if v,Vxm' 1. ., XE 4 ff .1 .g'llv...,.. ,V .. A fzzfgw, ,X U 'J 'Q ' Y Q '41 fi' ,. ff ' 1 ,ff f W, M 2 Aff' 0'-V ,uf sa ,,. ,,,,,.-- ,y Ei'5i:i.1N wwf ' q4'?.fx M ' . -, W 5'1 . '-YV .qv-,fx f ' E55 K ' '55 332 ' , 'lib 'flf QQ yy ZW. ,, N V 5732559 ' 1 141. A a W q . '- s ,J .V 5556 :Jn Q 7 JF Q L'-1 1 iii H ,...- 'TL' 1 ...Q GDCQP ,wr M,,.,,, W N ,. '36 QF! h W' '47 . W 'W' swf Pifi'fil.',:' l 1 5 Lf 2 Mp? 4. -f-- , 3 . W gl, fffrf f f , ,y ,Vg A f, ',w, .:, -hge, ' '..,. ,V ,f, - - , ' 7' M ,- , . , V , .,:EL,. ' A MW' ,, . ., uw. , ., -.:. ' .

Page 50 text:

CENTENNIAL SCHOOLS - PAST AND PRESENT ln September of 1955 the doors of William Tennent High School in Johnsville were opened for the first time, and here most of us began our three years of senior high school. Our ninth grade year had been spent in the former Upper Southampton-Warminster Joint High School in Southampton which has since been converted to elementary school use and is now called the George C. Shelmire Elementary School. Prior to our Freshman year we had spent our school days in buildings in the districts in which we lived. Those of us who resided in Warminster will always remember our one year in the then new Centennial Elemen- tary School. Here we had come from the other Warminster buildings: the Lacey Park School, the Warminster Elementary School, and even the old fire house. lvyland School was and is a two room schoolhouse. Here those of us from lvyland learned our fundamentals as we moved up through the grades. As the iointure came into being, we moved into the rooms of the new Centennial Elementary Building with the students from Warminster. Few Students from Southampton missed being placed in the Old Stone Building for at least one grade during their elementary school years. Today this building next to the Shelmire School houses the Southampton Kinder- garten. Another memory to those of us from Southampton is the Youth Center which had been converted to class- room use. Elementary school to a few of us was the Christ's Home Elementary School off York Road in Warminster. Aerial view of William Tennent High School Centennial Elementary Mus 1 yi Q school it 2

Page 52 text:

f ' '?4fY -az JR. THE STORY OF WILLIAM TENNENT In 1726, the Reverend William Tennent came to the Forks of the Neshaminy to minister to the English, Scotch, Irish, and Dutch immigrants who had settled in that area. lt was believed that William Tennent supervised the construction of a church in 1727 on the rise of ground in what is now a cemetery. In 1739, George Whitefield, the celebrated English evangelist, was a guest speaker to an audience of nearly three thousand people. Stones from the original building were used to repair the old cemetery wall, including the date stone H7271 which may still be seen in the wall at the entrance gate to the Cemetery Chapel. Because there were no schools in Pennsylvania for the education of Presbyterian ministers, Tennent educated his sons in his own home. Feeling that such a school was needed, on September 11, 1735, he purchased a farm near the present site of Christ's Home and erected a log house about 20 by 18 feet on his land for such a pur- pose. lt was here that he taught his own sons as well as other boys who were interested in an academic Christian education. There were no dormitories, the young men were boarded and lodged in the neighborhood. The origin of 63 colleges and universities can be traced to the influence or work of the men whom Tennent trained in this small, humble structure. After Mr. Tennent died in 1745, the school ceased to be. On September 5, 1889, President Beniamin Harrison, Postmaster General John Wanamaker, and Governor Beaver of Pennsylvania came to the site of the Log College to address a gathering of 12,000 in honor of the founder of this simple but great school. In 1926 a stone monument was erected and dedicated. Because of William Tennent's great influence as an educator in Pennsylvania and also in the eastern part of our country, the school boards of lvyland, Upper Southampton, and Warminster respectfully named the William Tennent High School in his honor. 48