In reviewing our school for the last fifty years, the greatest problem, perhaps, was not what to write but what to omit. The wealth of data available made it difficult to compose a condensed yet connected narrative. We have tried to portray some of the highlights, and if in doing we have sacrificed the giving of names involved in the account of some events, it was through no intention to slight these individuals or events. Some errors have been committed, no doubt, but we beg your indulgence and hope that you will have a better conception of the past fifty years in Conneaut High School from having read this feeble attempt to play the historian.

An attempt to write a history of any educational institution is a difficult task, for the real history of a school is not to be founding the prosaic accounts of figures, curriculums, or building programs which may be gleaned form records, books, or newspapers. The true history of a school is to be found, instead, in the lives of those who taught or studied there, and the real story may be told only by those who remember the little, interesting incidents which occurred. He wood stove, the old matting on the floor, the romance, the athletic games, the parties, the �times we played hookey,� the little �class room jokes,� the hay-rides, sleight rides and the like � these are the things that count. But alas, these things may be told only by those who lived them. We must confine ourselves to the more artificial account of the last fifty years.

When it was decided to write a brief account of our schools for the Annual, it was under the impression that this year�s graduation marked the fiftieth anniversary of our high school. Subsequent investigation proved otherwise, but it was decided to continue the work, nevertheless. This year marks the fifty-fifth commencement which has been consecutive. This is the event that we celebrate.

The embryo from which our high school has grown had its beginnings on August 17, 1868, when the Village Board of Education announced that it had made arrangements with the board of the Academy to permit �all who are entitled to send scholars free to the district schools to have the right to send them when qualified to the Academy, free of charge.� Outsiders were to pay the regular tuition.

The Reverend Nathan L. Guthrie began the work of organizing the high school, and, in 1878, was succeeded by Prof. L. B. Durstine. The first class to graduate from the high school department was in 1880. The names of the graduates were: Dora Briggs, Hattie Symonds, Susie Templeton, C. D. Hayward, M. R. Stevenson, and W. R. Malone. The first commencement exercises were held on Thursday evening, June 17, 1880, in the Town Hall, and were featured by an oration from each of the graduates. For more classes were held in the Academy building, the last being in 1884.

In 1885, the Main St. School was built and was used for the first tine ant the beginning of the Spring Term in April, 1886. In July, 1885, C. E. Carey succeeded C. N. Randall as Superintendent of Schools and a reorganization took place, which coupled with a new State Compulsory Education Law in January, 1890, caused the president of the board of education, Mr. C. R. Goddard, to announce at the graduating exercises in 1890, �We believe that Conneaut has now after five years of hard work, founded a system of schools that are destined to become the foremost in the country, and that the Class of �90 will in after years cherish a slight feeling of pride at being the first class to graduate under the present system and management.� This, it may be noted, all subsequent commencement exercises have been numbered to this date. In 1939, Conneaut High School celebrated it fiftieth consecutive commencement, subsequent to the reorganization of the schools under Prof. Carey. There were no graduates from June, 1884 to June, 1890. The graduating exercises were again held at the Town Hall, and by eight o�clock on June 12, 1890, �all seats were taken, all the aisles filled, and all available standing room was crowded to the utmost, more that two hundred being turned away.� The class consisted of May Bigelow, Agnes Gaffney, Edith Reynolds, and John Reig.

Within a few years the Main St. building became too crowded. In 1893 the High School met in the Town Hall until the �new� high school building on Broad St. could be completed. The Old Main building was used as a grade school. Recently it was condemned and torn down. And with it went the old iron fence, erected in 1886, from which boys and girls for many years past learned to �walk the fence� and �to perform stellar gymnastic feats.�

The Broad St. Building (now a grade school) opened its doors on September 11, 1894. It housed several grammar grades, and the high school department until 1909, when the high school was moved into its present quarters.

The land for the present high school was purchased in 1906 at a cost of $8700. The new building was illuminated for the first time on September 3, 1909, and was dedicated with impressive ceremonies on September 15, 1909. A feature of the dedication was the fact that the structure "was the first high school building in the State of Ohio to be dedicated with the new ritual recently arranged by State Commissioner of Schools, J.W. Zeller." Mr. Zeller delivered the main address of the day. Shortly after the dedication ceremonies the architect who designed it, E.E. Joralemon, presented the school with the statute of Paul Revere which reposes just outside the large studyhall, Room 20. About the same time, the Alumni Association, at a cost of one hundred dollars, bought and presented to the school the statue of Minerva. The newspaper account of the presentation commented that "the statute will ever show the reverence held by the graduates for their old school" -- the class of '38 to the contrary.

The original plan of the building provided for lockers, but they were not installed until the summer of 1927. In the meantime, locker rooms were used. Many "old grads" will remember the mad scramble for hats, coats, umbrellas, boots, and gloves when it came time for dismissal. In the original plans, also the space alloted to the library was rather limited. Gradually, however, under Miss Clara Leet's supervision the library has expanded, until now it occupies two rooms on the south side of the building. It is rumored that in the fall of 1939 the large Study Hall (Room 20, old number 15) will ends its historic career and give way to the library -- thus we progress through the years.

But to return to the building program: When the school opened in the fall of 1922, it became evident that the high school was very much overcrowded. Consequently, until the Junior High could be completed, the school was run on a two session basis. The first session at 7:45 a.m., and the afternoon session ended at 5:45 p.m. The freshman and sophomores attended the afternoon session under the supervision of Mr. Henry. In 1923 the Junior High School opened its doors and relieved the pressure. Mrs. Kathleen W. Simonds became the first principal of the Junior High School and held the position for thirteen years, being suceeded by Maurice D. Adams in 1936. The high school building has been operated as a Senior High School (10th, 11th, 12th grades) ever since.

In addition to the above mention buildings, the city has several fine grade schools. Fifteenth St. School was built in 1898 and enlarged in 1915. Dean Avenue School was built in 1901-1902 and enlarged in 1921. The West Main building was completed in 1923 by contractor Fred L. Horton; and the latest edifice, the Lake View School, came to use in 1928.

In the last fifty years, the Conneaut Schools have been under the supervision fo six different superindentents. They are:

C.E. Cary (1885-1897),
J.F. Ullery (1897-1902),
C.T. Northup (1902-1912),
E.D. Williamson (1912-1918),
C.M. Dickey (1918-1938), and
Norman Koontz (1938 - ).

It was during the administration of Mr. Northup that we became a first class high school and also a member of the North Central Association of High Schools and Colleges. Our school has consistantly maintained its high standing from that time to the present. In regard to the principals who have served Conneaut High School, there have been six also:

Miss Elvira Devereaux,
Miss Elizabeth Morrow,
Miss Grace Stockton,
Miss Susan Leet,
Miss Louise Kahler, and
Mr. V.R. Henry.

Miss Kahler was principal for twenty-three years and for a short time, in 1912, acted as superintendent. In fact, Miss Kahler holds the distinction of having served the city schools in the capacity of teacher, principal, superintendendent, and president of the board of education. Mr. Henry, our present principal has been connected with the high school ever since 1907, and has been principal since the fall of 1923.

A history of our schools would be incomplete without some mention of the Alumni Association. Since 1892 this association has served to keep the graduates of C.H.S. closely in touch with their Alma Mater. This has been accomplished largely through the annual reunion which is held on the third Thursday in June, each year. Perhaps, the most significant thing that could be written of the Alumni Association is to quote, in part, the newspaper account of its organization: "June 12, 1892, on Sunday evening occured the organization and first annual meeting of the C.H.S. Alumni. Under the new organization of our high school, there have been 18 graduates in the three years, and of this number 15 were present at this meeting, together with Prof. Carey and wife, Miss Devereaux, Miss Leslie, and Mr. R.W. Reynolds. Through the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hayward, the meeting was held at their fine home on Monroe Street, which was beautifully decorated with flowers and ferns for the occasion."

"Frank Malone was appointed chairman and James Cox, Secretary Pro Tempore. A constitution was adopted and the following officers elected: President, John B. Reig; Vice President, Lulu Drake; Secretary, James Cox; Tresurer, Jessie Mears. The execive committee appointed consisted of Frank Malone, Bertha Daim, and Edith Reynolds."

In turning to a discussion of various other phases of our school history there appears a series of more or less isolated happenings and events, of a lighter nature, which do not permit a consistent description to be made into them. They may be best treated, perhaps, in the vein of "DID YOU KNOW - - - "

• That from 1880 until 1910 commencement exercises were held either in the City Hall or in Weldon's Opera House (Skateland). That in 1904 the exercises were held in the Baptist Church and that caps and gowns were worn by the graduates.
• That in the early years of our schools the year was divided into three terms -- fall, winter, and spring, and that in 1880 "the examinations will be oral, and the parents are cordially invited to be present," and that experiments in physics were called "exercised with the philsophical apparatus."
• That as early as 1885 "the students indulged in their annual Chestnutting excursion and that "they made the woods ring with their shouts of gladness."
• That in 1886 "the students of the high school had their annual sleigh ride. They visited the infirmary and were shown through the institution by the superintendent mcuh to the delight and edification."
• That in 1892 the practice was begun of charging admission to Commencement, the price being 15 cents, and that in 1903 the practice of having each graduate deliver an oration was abandoned.
• That in 1900 the seniors "after driving about town on a hay-rack, tooting horns, and giving the class yell, went to Brown's Cottage at Willow Beach, where they danced, told stories around a fire, and enjoyed ice cream and cake, and to make the ride more exciting on the way home, the boys arranged for a break down of the "Means of conveyance."
• That in 1900 the Athletic Association was started with Henry Robinson as its first president, and that until about 1920 the manager of the team made the schedule and handled all the financial affairs connected with the team.
• That in 1905 Harrison Hunt won first honors in Ashtabula County Oratorical Contest for the first time in the history of C.H.S.
• That the class of 1908 was the first class to publish an Annual, and for the first time fire drills became a regular practice in the schools.
• That on May 21, 1907, "Twenty-one high school students were summarily suspended by Supt. Northup for deliberately breaking the order and discipline of the school."
• That in 1910 "the meeting of the board of education was different in one respect from any ever held in Conneaut in as much as one of its members was a woman, Mr. William Grant, who was elected on the Socialist ticket and recieved the second highest vote ever given a school member (up to that time)."
• That in November, 1911, Volume I, No. I, of the Tattler made its appearance, "containing some solid matter, bits of personal gossip and scraps of humor." The editor-in-chief was Jean Eagles (Buchanan). This Tattler in the form of a magazine appeared from that time on "semi-occasionally." For several years it was published by the Literary Societies. In 1913, Cornelia Curtis (now society editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer) was its editor-in-chief for a time.
• In 1924 "The Tattler this year was differently run,
  
         From the time it was first begun.
  
         In newspaper form did it appear."

  "Did you know that" -- in 1916 "new fire escapes were built from the Study Hall and Physics lab, according to the demands of the State Industrial Commission, and that a new fire gong was installed in the high school."

  That in 1917 "spontaneous combustion started a fire in the store room next to the superintendent's office, estimated damage $2500, and school closed for a few days.

  That in the same year students in the high school under the direction of the Manual Training teacher, Mr. Menell, turned their backyards into "war gardens."

  That C.H.S. had 100 per cent enrollment in the Junior Red Cross during the war (WWI), and that a total of 107 graduates and ex-highs served their country during the war.

  That Marjorie Grant won a $400 prize for selling $74,732.41 worth of War Savings Stamps. And that Bernice Boyink sold $19,694.48 worth in the same contest.

  That French was added to the curriculum and German dropped in 1918.

  That the "flu" epidemic caused the city schools to close on Oct. 12, 1918 when the number of cases in the city jumped from 15 at noon to 100 at 4 p.m.. And that the "forced vacation" lasted until April 11, 1922.

  That "Old Conneaut" was first introduced in C.H.S. about 1918.

  That Room 211 was furnished by the students of the high school when Brown Memorial Hospital opened on April 11, 1922.

  The National Honor Society granted C.H.S. a charter in 1924.

  That the largest class to graduate form Conneaut Senior High was the class of 1937 with 79 boys and 89 girls for a total fo 168.

  That including this year's class a total of 2703 persons will have graduated form this school since 1890.

  That unless this rambling ceases it will soon take on the appearence of one of Mr. Donovan's speeched; so - - - we will close and submit this to you for your edification and entertainment, leaving the door wide open for comment and criticism, and hoping that those who fortune it is to relate the story of the next fifty years will pick up the trail where we lay down the pen.
  
  

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