Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 36, Number 300, Decatur, Adams County, 21 December 1938 — Page 7

Citizens To

MEDICATION OF DECATUR S NEW ' ■ JUNIOR-SENIOR £s■ HIGH SCHOOL building 7» Thursday Evening. December 22. 1938 lirfl 8:00 P.M. HIM PROGRAM aide®-Star Spangled Banner it o^^ on '*""J cT” V R o V ‘ ( - AL Pru gh. Th. I). and Stripes Forever. .Sousa Hon j]j s Honor Fillmore ■ ... , High School Band Welcome Irtt h Fuhrman KN ■ . President Board of Education s Dream Realized. hp P® Mayor Arthur R. Holthouse '» qiiMgs: j - qT Earl Peters 1 hanks and Sing ... Harris From Hl Do Thou Defend Me— S (Chorale) J. S. Bach High School Glee Club Floyd 1. McMurray State Superintendent of Public Instruction der to Community w. Guy Rro^- n 1 m Principal o fJunior-Senior High School s h of guests W. J. Krick i&B Superintendent of Schools , Band M Bund selections in charge of Mr. Albert Sellemeyer, lts instructor. Decatur Public Schools. Glee Club selections in charge of Miss Helen Haubold, tion of Music, Decatur Public Schools. Board of education: Ira B. Fuhrman, president; Roy ,hp secretary; Joseph A. Hunter, treasurer; Walter superintendent of schools.

■OOT ABLES fPEGTED HERE Guest List Wpected To Attend indication Ceremonies at n ’ lo "t prominent guests ’ >o attend the dedicath<* new junior-senior high here Thursday night. Sup- , Walter J. Krick, ankve today. most distinguished of • )u notables to attend will be ’ I. M< Murray, state superinof public instruction and ; l’-u :state FHA admini- — — I* A PTster. PWA engine. —assigned to th.

Congratulations to the City of Decatur and the School Board on their beautiful New HIGH SCHOOL We are proud to have been selected to install the . Plumbing . Heating and . Ventilation w * Tibbetts Plumbing-Heating Co Union City. Ind. 317 W. Pearl St.

project during the construction of the new Junior-senior high school, has signified his intentions of attending. A possibility exists that Frank Richards, former PWA engineer on the project, now traveling engineer, and Wesley A. Rhodehammel, PWA engineer now at Bloomington, also a former engineer on the project, may attend. L. C. Annen, local inspector; John Truemper of Schinnerer & Truemper, Robert Tibbets of Tibbets Plumbing & Heating, a representative of the Dix-Kelley Electrical Co., all of whom had a part in the construction of the school, are also expected to be present at the ceremonies. In addition, school leaders of surrounding counties, members of faculties in nearby schools, possibly another representative of the state board of public instruction, Mayor Arthur R. Holthouse and

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 193«.

Inspect Decatur’s New School

NEW BUILDING MARKS CHANGE IN SCHOOLING Facilities Os New Structure Abolish Old 4-4-4 Year System No longer has the city of Decatur a 4-4-4 system of learning. No longer must the students work their way through the curricula of three institutions before standing on the threshhold of college. Today, modernistic as the two new buildings which house' nearly all of the city’s nearly 1,000 public school schildren. it boasts of a 6-6 system of education. That is to say, whereas before a child of six entered one of the three ward buildings, after four years was “promoted” to Central and then after graduation from the eighth grade amidst the greatest of ceremony donned the cloak of a “freshle” for four final years —today six years are spent in the elementary grades at the old high school, now to be known as Central and then transferred to the i new junior-senior high for seventh, eighth grade learning and four years of high school. i Advantages of this system, say school leaders and enthusiasts, are two-fold. In addition to eliminating the necessity of transfers from one building to another at four-year intervals, added benefits can be offered the student through the consolidation of facilities. In the city "graduating from the eighth grade" has gone out of existence and today this elementary graduation, if such it can be called. takes place following the sixth year of learning when the student enters junior high in the new building. into the new high school have gone approximately 480 students in senior, junior, sophomore, freshmen, eighth and seventh grades. The old high school, now Central, city officials, local school board and faculty members,. are expected to increase the distinguished visitor list to large proportions.

Speak At Dedication Thursday

<1 ■> ■ . Floyd I. McMurray .stale superintendent of public instruction and Arthur R. Holthouse, mayor of the city of Decatur, will be the principal speakers at the dedication services of the new school to be held Thursday night. The speakers' list will also include school officials and board members.

Superintendent Walter J. Krick, former principal of the Decatur high school and principal of the Van Wert high school, is superintendent of th* Decatur city schools. Mr. Krick will act as chairman of the dedicatory program of the new juniorsenior high school. Principal ~ ®s •'J

W. Guy Brown, veteran teacher and former principal of the Central school, has the distinct honor of being the first principal of Decatur's quarter-million dollar junior-senior high school. He will appear on the | dedication program Thursday. houses approximately 465 students. But approximately 74 students,; those in the first, second and third grades at the South Ward, are, now outside of the two structures i — the old and new high schools. The old high school was built in I 1917 by W. F. Peterson, contrac- j tor at a cost of $66,620. The gym- ■ nasiutn and auditorium were built ! in 1922 at a cost, of $36,920. Chari-, es Saunders was the contractor. FLOOR SPACE (CONTINUED ON I’AGE SEVEN) the pictures of efficiency in the arrangement of the school. Huge steel-framed windows that permit ample sunlight, pastel-shad-ed walls easily adjustable to the eyes, an abundance of built-in locker space and other means of providing inorc efficient and comfortable ways of affording an education to the school children of the city attest to the exactness and abilities of those responsible for designing the school. —————• DREAM OF ONE (CONTINUED ON PAGE SEVEN) $50,000 obtained $90,000 for the school city to be used in the construction. The city issued $50,000 worth of 1 bonds and the entire amount was ! turned over to the school board I The first of these will be paid next i year without any increase in the (ax rate. Thus Thursday when the uew quarter-million dollar junior-sen-ior high school is dedicated, it can

be recalled with a pride that such a magnificent structure had been born in the minds of civic and school leaders of the city but one short year ago and that within the space of these short months an ideal had ceased to be a dream and today is a reality. - o STAGE IS ALL SET (CONTINUED ON PAGE SEVEN) siasts will officially commemorate the victory in their battle to overcome these conditions. Appropos to the occasion, school and civic leaders have arranged a

We are proud of having been selected the I GENERAL CONTRACTORS on the New Junior-Senior HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING 1 We Congratulate Decatur and the School Board on the Dedication of the building. i Schinnerer & Truemper CARL SCHINNERER BUILDERS JOHN TRUEMPER 3130 Bowser Ave. 11. M ayne, Ind.

Speakers At Event To Use Stage Mike For The First Time The public address in the new gymnasium-auditorium is to be used for the first time through the stand microphone on the stage of the auditorium Thursday night at the dedication services. Speakers will talk from the stage through the facilities of the stage microphone and the two loudspeakers on each side of the stage. Approximately 600 chairs will be placed on the hardwood gymnasium floor, which will be covered with a tarpaulin for the event. These seats as well as the 1,200 stadium seats will be available to the public. program to mark the event. Heading the list of speakers who will appear on the program are Floyd I. McMurray, state superintendent of public Instruction and Mayor Arthur R. Holthouse of the city of Decatur. Mr. McMurray will represent the state of Indiana and its educational system in his address while Mayor Holthouse will speak in behalf of the city, its pride in the achievement of the construction of such an institution. Members of the school board, Ira B. Fuhrman, Joseph A. Hunter and Roy Mumma, will also appear on the program with Superintendent Walter J. Krick and Principal W. Guy Brown. Following the program, which will be interspersed with musical selections by the high school bands and the music classes, the visitors will be guided on a tour of the new building.

Razing Os Old Building Saddens City Venerables

The rising walls of the new quarter-million dollar junior-senior high school on Jefferson street while gladly welcomed on all sides as another step in the progress of the city of Decatur in affording its school children with the proper education brought a note of sadness from many. 1 To these it meant wrecking and I razing of three of the city's oldest scholastic landmarks. Where but a short few months ago, the happy laughter and patter of students feet resounded from aged, crumbling walls today stands only the most meager evi--1 dence of a former institution —a few bricks and pieces of mortar left by the wrecking crew. Late last fall after the closing l of the 1937-38 term, amidst the clicking of candid camera fans, a ' crew of workmen pulled over the I walls of the old Central building. Among the camerman stood several of the city's rapidly graying middle-aged businessmen — some who were first students to walk down its corridors and classrooms. No longer would they be able to I say “My son Is going to the same school, in which 1 secured the foundation for my education." The Central was the oldest of the city's school structure, built in 1885 at a cost of $11,990 by Contractor Solomon Linn. The West Ward, wrecking of which began early in November following the transfer of the students there to the old high school, was built by Contractor W. H. Myers. Sr., at a cost of $6,474 and

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was the second oldest. The North Ward, which is now In the process of razing was built ' In 1896 by J. W. Merriman at a cost of $8,702. All three of these buildings had to be torn down in ■ order to receive the SIIO,OOO grant of the Administration of public works, toward the construction of the new. modern structure on Jefferson street at the old Central . school site. I Although changed to some extent, these three buildings remain- . ed for the most part as they were first actually constructed. A $7,884 • addition built to the old Central school in 1906 by W. M. Christen, . was practically the only marked , change. Many graduates of the Central building some 15 years ago, boasting of their advanced age, tell of . remembering the cracked walls in • the old Central building only *to . learn that their fathers, too, re- ; member its aged and crumbling i structural lines. Considered unsafe for our youth, . the building naturally, was one of the first to go to make way for the new impressive cathedral of 1 learning. In the days of the fathers, the ■ three R's readin’, writin' and 'rithmetic, were of course, the many ' body of the curriculum of the ■ school. In later years, however, the ■ three schools under the supervision of competent instructors kept pace with educational progress • and added subject after subject.