Withrow High School - Withrow Annual Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

Page 18 text:

t i A Tribute to Mr. Lyon that we do honor to its principal Mr Edmund D Lyon He has been the head of Withrow High School since its opening in September. 1919. He has fostered its growth from a modest beginning to its present positiori as an institution of learning known throughout the country for high scholarship and aspiring ideals. In a sense these qualities are symbolized in the stately group of buildings which stands as an open altar to the dawn upon a site un- matched in natural beauty. N THIS Annual in which the history of our school is told for the first time, it is fitting His devotion to the welfare of our school is a thing for which we cannot hope to make early requitalf We know, however. that by rendering service to the school and community, we can best discharge the debt of gratitude due to him. and to the people of Cincinnati who have entrusted him with so noble a temple in which to instruct youth in the ways of knowledge. IZ

Page 17 text:

HE Annual of the Class of 1925 greets you. It brings to you many a message from the school. It will tell you of the seniors, and in picture as well as in story, you will find depicted the life of Withrow. To be sure, the class room work, which is most important of all, does not figure much, but all else is here. You will be interested ,to see how many activities there are which are just outside our regular work. and yet are so related to it as to be very important. You will see our boys and girls in action in game and track, and the camera has caught many a figure and many a scene not on the scheduled program, It may seem like a conceit on the part of the Annual to say that you will admire the many exquisite views of our attractive buildings and grounds: but whether it be in the cold and dreary winter, in the blithesome spring time, or in the sere and fading autumn, at all times our school is beautiful--a reflection, we trust, of its inner life. EDMUND D. LYON. ll

Page 19 text:

V31 w l .fl .. K, f . . d , .H :,,:,-. - r C -5 1 X' : :E I1 Q f x 1 1. .-she 'M' it so 1 F W -1 fa . J 4. v ' 4 ' We 1 Q-.yffi M. ,nu , if f- in -, I ew-- ,.- hd, f ,B .il l y I I i 47 Y ,. yep 5 ng 2 uw xl 4 - A IA v-11. . - I A .5 A S , ff' ,lhi l gr gi Q a- i. 15,15 ' F 'TQ' 1 ,L W? , 1 I r. A. U - I f ff I K' ' 1, ,,AAf , 1 Jai'-'Xff The History of Withrow High School HE twenty-seven acre tract at the junction of Erie Avenue and Madison Road, where now stands Withrow High School. was originally part of the Erkenbrecher estate. At that not distant date it was a small farm with a few scattered buildings and a pasture for grazing cattle. Yet this tract had already made its bid for fame when. years before, Andrew Erkenbrecher. the founder of the now famous Cincinnati Zoo, housed his hrst collection of animals there. The Board of Education bought the property in 1913 as the prospective location for a new high school. Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Condon, and the President of the School Board, Dr. Withrow, were both intensely interested in the project and spent several years in the preliminary planning of the building. The firm of Garber 53 Woodward was employed for the architectural work, and on the eleventh of December. 1915, ground was broken. The construction was well under way when the war upset all calculations, and when the main buildings were completed, it seemed necessary to convert 'them into a government hospital for wounded soldiers. Fortunately the signing of the armistice prevented their,use as such. and the erection was resumed in three units: the academic and industrial buildings, the gymnasia, and the stadium. ' When completed in 1919 the school presented an imposing appearance. It was a departure from the customary school type, being a combination of northern and southern 'colonial archi- tecture. The low red brick building with its pillared portico, the lofty tower. and the graceful bridge are reminiscent of Revolutionary days. On the tower and buildings are -engraved quota- tions from Ruskin, the Psalms, and Superintendent Randall J. Condon. The Hyde Park Business Club added a thing of beauty to the plaza in front of the school in giving a handsome Rookwood fount fashioned of varicolored tiles and bearing the signs of the zodiac. The A view of the farm buildings from Madison Road 13