Ashtabula & Harbor High Schools

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>Ashtabula Bicentennial Celebration</B></FONT><B> </B><B> </B></div> <div> <B>    </B><A HREF="Home.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ashtabula Bicentennial Celebration"><U><B>Home</B></U></A><B>              </B><A HREF="History.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" History "><U><B>History</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><B>The History of </B></I><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B> Ashtabula </B></I></FONT><I><B>and </B></I><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#990066" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B>Harbor</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#6600CC" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B> </B></I></FONT><I><B>High Schools</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>                         </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B>1856 - 2001                                                      1891 - 2001</B></I></FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="749" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 262 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3ae71d30.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="369" height="211"></div> <div>                  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>Ashtabula High School</B></FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>1916 - 2001</B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="3b075d20.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="373" height="210"></div> <div>                      <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#660066" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>Harbor High School</B></FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>1912 - 2001</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></I></div> <div> <I><B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="767" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 4486 ><NOBR><div> <I><B>The History of Ashtabula & Harbor High Schools</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>by</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Darrell E. Hamilton</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>          Ashtabula's now two defunct high schools had a long and glorious history.  Ashtabula</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>had the distinction of being the oldest continuous operating high school in the state. Start-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>ed in 1856 in what was the  Ashtabula  Academy,  Ashtabula got its start after the people of </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Ashtabula voted to adopt the Union School (graded) System by a vote of 113 to 53. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>          A short time later, a form of the school board called directors, were elected. Some of the</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>directors' surnames are still prominent in Ashtabula.  The directors elected were as follows:</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Henry L. Morrison, Stephen Hall, J. A. Prentice,  F. Carlisle, H. Fassett and L. Hall. The first</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>superintendent and principal of the newly formed school was the Rev. Charles E. Bruce. Rev.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Bruce served those positions until 1861. His wife, Eliza A. Bruce, also taught school with him </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>for awhile. The first Ashtabula High School had but one teacher, Miss L. A. Harthan. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>         The school was free to all persons of suitable age residing within the borough limits and</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>the  school  district  attached  thereto  for  school  purposes.  Since  there  were  no  other high</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>schools in the area, students living  outside the limits of the school district could attend the</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>newly formed school for a fee of $16 per term in advance.  A  lot of students did attend  Ashta-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>bula High School from outside the school district.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>        Before the formation of a regular school board, no diplomas were issued. When a student</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>passed  all  of  his  or  her  exams,  their  education  at  that  level  was  complete. After the for-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>mation of a regular  school board,  "The Board of Education",  the first diplomas were issued </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>in 1872. The class of 1872 contained five graduates, four girls and one boy. In the early years,</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>it was not unusual for more girls to be graduated than boys. In 1881, Ashtabula High School</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>also had five graduates, all girls. Many  years  would  pass before the boys would out number</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>the girls.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>         In 1879, the  Harbor Special School District was created. For lack of suitable rooms, the </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Harbor  Special  School  District  was  not  very  successful  in  the  beginning.  Most   Harbor</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Special School District students who wanted to further their education, attended Ashtabula</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>High School</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>          On April 6, 1885, Ashtabula voted in favor of a new school building by a vote of 368 to 11.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>On September 17, 1886, Ashtabula dedicated its first high school building that cost a grand </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>total  of  $33,282.17.  The first building built especially for a high school stood where the Ball</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Gymnasium now stands. Up until this time, the old  Ashtabula  Academy  building served as</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Ashtabula High School.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>           In  1887,  the  first class to graduate from the new school contained thirteen graduates, </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>all girls.  One of the girls had to be number thirteen.  Being quite  superstitious in those days</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>the girl did not want to be number thirteen.  Since  there  was no way around it,   she decided </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>not to attend graduating ceremonies and have her diploma  mailed  to  her.  Apparently  bad</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>luck followed anyway.  She became  the first member of her class to die.  Almost exactly to the</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>day, a year after graduating, she died.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B><IMG SRC="3ffedd40.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="749" height="468"></B></I></div> <div> <I><B>                                                    </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B>Ashtabula High School - 1886-1902</B></I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>         </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B>In 1890, the Harbor Special School District saw a need for a new building if their school</B></I></FONT></div> <div> <I><B>district was going to be successful.  In 1891,  a new school building was completed.  This was</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>the first Harbor High School.  In 1893, the first Harbor High School graduates received their</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>diplomas.  There  were  a total  of  six  graduates,  three  girls  and  three  boys. Because early </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>school  records  were  either  lost  or  destroyed  and  local  newspapers  no longer  exist for the </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>1890's, history of the early Harbor High School is sketchy at best</B></I></div> <div> <I><B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="728" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 384 WIDTH="722"><div> <IMG SRC="405e1640.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="481" height="356"></div> <div> <I><B>Harbor High School - 1891-1912</B></I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></I></div> <div> <I><B>          Most  Ashtabula  citizens  think  that the  first  black  student to graduate the city high          </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>schools was in the 1940's or 1950's.  The first black student to graduate from a county school</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>came before the turn of the century in 1896. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>       The beautiful young ladies name was Mamie Turner. Since newspaper and school records</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>no longer exist and Ashtabula High School never had a yearbook until 1908, I might not have </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>ever found this fact out if it had not been for my wife's great-grandmother. She, Edna Young,</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>was  also a 1896 graduate of  Ashtabula  High  School.  She  had  saved all the pictures of her</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>graduating classmates of 1896 and the pictures were eventually passed on to my wife, Sharon.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>I have also researched all the census records of the time to verify my facts. With this fact, Ash-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>tabula  High  School  was  the  oldest continuing high school in the state to have graduated a</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>black student.  The  Ashtabula  class  of 1896 contained seventeen graduates,  three boys and</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>fourteen girls. Mamie Turner later was married and moved  to  Cleveland.  She  died  there  at</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>the age of  thirty.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>               In the same year, 1896, Harbor  High  School had eight graduates, three boys and  five</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>girls. There were no graduates for Harbor High School in the years of 1894 and 1898. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>              The smallest class to graduate  Ashtabula  High  School  was   in 1875 when there were</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>only two graduates.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>             After the turn of  the  century,  Ashtabula  was a  booming  city.  In  1902,  a  new  school </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>opened on  Park  Ave.  where the  old  Academy  (first Ashtabula High School)  building  stood.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>However, the first  Ashtabula  High  School  was  not  torn down when a  new  high  school was</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>built. The School Board sold the building to  D. W. Haskell  and he had it moved to  where  the</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>present  Carlisle  Building  now stands. The old Academy Building, turned into a  store  front,</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>stood on Main Street until 1924 when it was razed for the new Carlisle Building.</B></I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>               <IMG SRC="413af5c0.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="431" height="604"></B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Ashtabula High School - 1856-1886</B></I></div> <div> <I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B><IMG SRC="40ccf7a0.jpg" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="719" height="378"></B></I></FONT></div> <div> <I><B>Ashtabula High School 1902 - 1915</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>            Even though the east Harbor area was in the  Ashtabula  City School District, the west</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Harbor  area  Harbor area, (Harbor School District) was growing at an accelerated pace. By</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>1902,  Harbor  High  School  boys  would  out  number  the  girls  seven  to six.  With  the  lower</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>grades bulging at the seams,  the people of the  Harbor  had a new high school built.  On Sep-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>tember 9, 1912, the present Harbor High School building opened.  The  first class to graduate </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>them new Harbor High School building opened.  The first class to graduate the new Harbor </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>High School contained seventeen graduates. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>           In 1915, the city of Ashtabula would build a new high school. This would make four new</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>high schools in a period of thirty years. All built during the tenure of elected mayors. On Jan-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>uary 3, 1916, the present high school building opened.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>           After  1916,  Ashtabula  had the distinction of having one of the best high schools in the </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>state.  Not  just  in  the  terms  of a new building, but both schools were ranked high academi-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>cally.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>             Ashtabula High School would break the hundred mark as 104 were graduated in 1922.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>In 1932,  Harbor  High  School would hit the hundred mark as  104   graduated  Harbor  High</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>School.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>              In 1935, Ashtabula had 282 graduates.  The next year,  the  number  of  graduates was</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>down due to a new high school on the east side of Ashtabula. 1936 was the first year for grad-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>uates for Edgewood  High  School.  Throughout the 1930's and 1940's, the number of students</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>that graduated at  Bula  stayed  above  200  and  at times hovered close to 300 with the excep-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>tion of  1945  when only 199  were  graduated due mostly  to  World  War  II.  During  the  same </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>period,  the number of graduates for  Harbor declined from a high of 104 in 1932 to a low of 49</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>in 1949.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>             In July of 1954, the old  Ashtabula High School that stood where Ball Gymnasium now</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>stands, was torn down to make room for a new gymnasium. The old high school building had</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>been used as a junior high and elementary school until 1952  when  the  students  were  trans-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>ferred to the new  Station  Ave.  Building.  The old high school wasss used for storage and art</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>classes the next two years.  Before  the  building  was  torn down, the school bell was carefully </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>taken down and later mounted on the east wall of the  Ball  Gymnasium.  However,  that  was</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>not the  only  thing  that  was  carefully t aken  down  to  be  saved.  The sandstone  headstone </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>which bore the date of construction (1885) was also saved. The idea at the time was to retain</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>the headstone as a memorial to the first high school building.  Does  anyone  know what hap-</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>pened to this headstone?</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>          In 1957, there was another cut in high school graduates at Harbor and Ashtabula High</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Schools. This would be the first year for St. John High School graduates.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>          In 1960, the Ashtabula  City Schools and the Harbor School Districts were consolidated.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>The Harbor and Ashtabula had been joined together  as  a  community  since  1877.  With  the</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>merger of the two school districts,  new  boundaries  were  drawn  for  the  high  schools. Some </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>students that had Ashtabula, now went to  Harbor.  When  the  boundaries  were  drawn,  the </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>graduating class  of  Harbor  High  School  almost  doubled.  In  1965,  the  combined  schools</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>graduated 509. In 2001, both high schools would only graduate 262.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>          To June 30, 2001, (the official death date of each high school)  there  have  been 27,761 to</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>graduate both high school; 18,068 from  Ashtabula  High  School  and  9,693  at  Harbor High</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>School</B></I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>         </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><I><B>Ashtabula High School Class Web Sites</B></I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Class of 1949</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://personal.mia.bellsouth.net/mia/r/h/rhissa/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://personal.mia.bellsouth.net/mia/r/"><U><I><B>http://personal.mia.bellsouth.net/mia/r/h/rhissa/index.htm</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Class of  1965</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.alltel.net/~mrocilka/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.alltel.net/~mrocilka/index.ht"><U><I><B>http://www.alltel.net/~mrocilka/index.htm1</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Class of 1969</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ashtabulahighschool1969.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ashtabulahighschool1969.com"><U><I><B>http://www.ashtabulahighschool1969.com</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Harbor High School Class Web Sites</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Have a Ashtabula or Harbor High School web site you like posted here?</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:hamiltonenterprises@alltel.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:hamiltonenterprises@alltel.net"><U><I><B> <IMG SRC="4145c200.gif" border=0 ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" width="92" height="32"></B></I></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></I></div> <div> <I><B>         </B></I></div> </td> </tr></table></body>