Woodward High School - Treasures Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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WOODWARD HIGH SCHOOL Its History and Its Purpose ROM the earliest settlement of the State of Ohio, provision for education has been made in Cincinnati by the grant of the public lands, as specified in the Ordinance of 1787, by many individual donations, and by much private effort. Among those schools which came into existence through individual donation, was Woodward High School, amply en- dowed by the man whose name it bears, William Woodward. As early as the year 1819, Mr. WoodwardIS attention was attracted to the matter of schools for poor children, but his first actual move in this direction was not made until 1826. In that year he conveyed in trust to Samuel Lewis and his nephew Osmond Cogswell, a valuable tract of land, containing some seven acres, for the support of a free grammar school. This tract being on Sycamore Street, near the present site of Hunt Street, was divided by the trustees into suitable building lots, which were then leased, subject to a re-valuation every fif- teen years. In 1830, Woodward modified the trust so as to allow the trustees to establish a high school, and on December 16th of the same year, gave over an acre more for the building lot. On this lot, by means of the funds accumulated after several years from the ground rent, the Woodward school building of 1831 was erected. In this two-story brick building of four rooms, the first session of Woodward High School was held on October 24, 1831. Ten years later the house was enlarged by the addition of a third story, and in this the high school of 1841 began its work. Time passed, and the charter was surrendered. So, in 51, the school was made part 01' the public system, under the Union Board of High Schools. But now the Woodward 0f 11 became a thing of the past, for in 1885 a larger and more convenient structure was be- gun. Two years later, the new Woodward stood completed, a noble specimen of Gothic architecture and a splendid monu- ment of learning. For fifteen years it lived, nobly accomplish- ing its work and pouring forth from its walls influence far and wide. And then it, too, vanished to exist only in one colony of the school; and then, later on, another was formed. And so, to afford room for a larger school, Woodward of 1885 was torn down. From 1907 to 1910 the children of Woodward were without a true home, taking up quarters in the Second and Third Intermediate Schools. But in the fall of the year 1910 the wanderers entered the open doors of the ttNew Wood- ward ithe school of to-day and 0f the long future, an impos- ing modern structure of one hundred and fifty-four rooms, replete with every modern convenience and requisite necessarv to the gaining of a substantial and useful high school edu- cation. To an honored alumnus, Gustav W. Drach, I79, belongs the credit for the magnificent design of this handsome new home of ours. In every conceivable detail does his wonderful skill