Sunday, October 22, 2006

(This article is taken directly from the pages of the 1991 Leader-News supplement created for the WW II Classes Reunion held that year. Most of the articles in the supplement, including this one (minus a few paragraphs for brevity) were written by Bettye Kate Smith, local historian.)

"Most people in Littlefield who ever saw the old square red brick school building are under the impression that this was the first school in Littlefield. Few are aware that the first building is still standing.

"The construction of this building was the first to be built of ‘durable’ materials. It was actually just outside the city limits at the time, and was located on a ‘rise’ where it could be seen from the downtown area. This building was on land donated by Alice Duggan and was financed by the sale of bonds.

"Construction was begun in July of 1915, with a target date for completion scheduled October of that year. However, building was considerably behind schedule and it wasn’t finished until March of 1916.

"This school was located where the present day Primary building now stands.

"It consisted of two stories with the most modern conveniences of that day. That is to say, the outhouse facilities had accommodations for four or five people in either side of the long outhouse that was partitioned off for males and females.

"A windmill was put up for the use of the school, with the only other person who used it being Pat Boone, who lived directly across what is now the street.

"In 1930-31, when the city could furnish plumbing, this situation was remedied by adding on to the building. The addition included a basement to hold a steam boiler for heat, this also allowed room for extra classrooms in the basement.

"The upper part of the addition was designed for indoor restrooms for students and faculty. Lighting was provided by naked light bulbs suspended on electrical cords.

"Additional light came through the window wells around the windows down to the classrooms. The window wells served as escape exits, if necessary. They also caught much of the dirt, dust and debris that blew profusely during the ‘Dust Bowl’ days. In later years, the window wells would fill with water once the rains began to fall again after so many years of drought, over-poring in streams down the classroom walls.

"The ground floor consisted of approximately eight classrooms and the administrative offices.

"The second story had four classrooms and an auditorium, complete with a stage and an upright piano. The auditorium also served as the music classrooms, and other classes, as needed. It had an iron fire escape that connected on the upper west side and went to the ground. This was accessible through a door by the auditorium. (It was great fun to play on the fire escape during the summer months, unless one got caught by Pat Boone, Sr., who chased kids away, for fear they would get hurt, when he found them playing there. It wasn’t hard for him to spot ‘delinquents’ since he lived directly opposite the old building and the fire escape was the first thing he saw when he came out his front door.)

"Requirements for graduation were to complete 11 grades. This was the rule from 1916 until 1942, when 12 grades were required to be graduated. Until the ‘new’ high school and primary were erected, all students attended all classes 1 through 11 in this building.

"Very little is known about the classes who graduated from this building, other than the statements of two former students that were taken from an interview in 1940.

"’Everything wasn’t peaches and cream in the good old days’, said Mrs. Alph Wright, Valedictorian of a class of seven with a grade point average of 96 in 1923.

"’L.H.S. students of today are learning in luxury compared to earlier L.H.S. students’ said Mrs. Roy wade, 1924 Valedictorian of a class of thirteen with a grade point average of 93.

"There are no school records to indicate any other graduating classes from this building other than the comments by the above former students. (The class of 1925 was the first class to graduate out of the old ‘Alamo’ that was in the process of being built during the 1924 school year. The class of 1951 was the last class to graduate from the ‘Alamo’.)

"In those days, grades were ‘A’s’ and ‘B’s’; there were no lockers (students had home rooms) and there were only four teachers for the 10^th and 11^th grades.

"Three individually owned school busses brought the children to school. The students did not pick their own subjects, and Latin and Spanish were the foreign languages taught. The ‘lab’ was in the grammar school basement. There were 40 minute periods with two recesses and a lunch hour. Assemblies were known as literary societies and there were no class bells.

"The first football team played in 1923 and had games with Farwell, Lubbock, Slaton, and Plainview on a field east of the grammar school building. Thirteen men ‘went out’ for the team and furnished their own suits.

"Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Wade both played on the basketball team and all games were played on open courts. There were no dressing rooms for boys or girls. Other games were baseball, volleyball, and in 1924 tennis was played.

"One of the most momentous occasions during the lifetime of the old grammar school (or central building, if you prefer) was in the 30’s.

"It was announced that King Edward VIII would announce his abdication of the throne of England to marry American Wallis Simpson. At that time, the country had already been through a world war, the depression, the invention of the automobile and airplane. Electricity, running water and radios were in most homes. All this had happened in just under a half century. What else historic could happen?

"The teachers almost all assumed that the abdication would probably be the last historical thing to happen of interest in the lives of the current student body. Most of the teachers brought a radio to school, in order for the students to hear history in the making.

"Time to listen to the speech was taken from regular classes, and students heard as King Edward VIII made his announcement of abdication. This did make an impression on most of the students, if for no other reason than the fact that our teachers would interrupt classes for such a speech.

"When the old grammar school was raised to make way for the more modern building known as the Primary building, few tears were shed. No one seemed sorry to see it go, with the exception of a very few who had spent their entire school careers there. Almost everyone who recalls being in it seem to associate it with the Depression years, sand storms and hard times.

"To have been in a classroom (especially the basement rooms) during one of the 30’s black sandstorms, with howling winds whistling through the window wells, the single light bulbs giving off an eerie glow through the dust-filled rooms, and the hissing of unwrapped steam pipes overhead would have young pre-teen students’ imaginations running rampant, with visions of Frankenstein’s creator being reincarnated before their very eyes in the form of the teacher in charge."