Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Wellsville's "New" High School Ready


This is a page from the 1920 Wellsville High School yearbook.  That was the first year that Wellsville high school students attended classes in the “new high school” on Center Street.  Before then they went to school in the McDonald building on 9th St.  The elementary students attended classes at either McKinley School in the east end of town or Garfield buildings on the western side.

That building is now partially the home of Daw Middle School.  There have been a lot of changes made in the past 92 years.  Bet today’s BOE have dreams of construction costs like those in 1920!

The 1920 WHS yearbook is part of the collection of yearbooks kept at the River Museum by the Wellsville Historical Society.

ole nib






6 comments:

Phil L. said...

Nib -

Thanks for sharing this great item!

Yes, the building changed quite a bit over the years. The auditorium had been turned into the library by the time I was in the building. And I always liked the "bridge" over to the band room.

JHL said...

$140,000 to build. That's what landscaping would cost today.

************* said...

We're not the sharpest knives in the drawer but we were wondering what that amount in 1920 would be in 2012 dollars.

nib

Phil L. said...

nib -

As it turns out, measuring relative worth of money over time is an inexact science - and depends quite a bit on what you care about.

This site:

http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

...has a calculator that gives a range of results, using different approaches.

A simple "Purchasing Power" calculation claims $140K in 1920 would be worth $1.57 million today (well, actually 2011 - since they don't have full statistics for 2012 yet). However, other calculator results on that site range from $1.23 million to $23.9 million (and includes lots of reading to help understand what they mean).

Interesting!

Back to the original item: As I looked closer at the picture... I presume that the gymnasium I knew in the early 80's wasn't part of the original 1920 construction - that claims to include a gym. Does anyone know where the original gym was located?

************* said...

For that building it was in the basement. Believe it was in Morrison's book that mentions one end had a lower ceiling than the other because of the sloping floor in the auditorium on the floor above it. He said one had to be careful shooting basketballs on that end of the floor. Think Beacom Memorial came along 'bout 10 years later.

Didn't the original auditorium later become the library?

nib

Phil L. said...

OK - that makes sense. Yes, when I was there, I was told that the library had been the auditorium at one time.

But I didn't realize the original gym was below it. I don't recall being able to access anything beneath the library. I wonder what that space was used for when I was there...