| UPDATED: 8-7-2005 |
PARKERSBURG HIGH SCHOOL (NEW)
 |
 |
|
| Parkersburg's current Tudor-style high school, then called Central Junior Senior High, was built in 1917 on its own 27-acre campus at Dudley Avenue between 20th and 23rd Streets. The building opened its doors in the fall of 1918 (when this picture was taken). The land was originally swamp. | An original architect's drawing envisioned the school on a street corner. |
 |
 |
|
| The rear of the high school in 1918. |
 |
 |
|
| The high school and stadium in 1926. | Looking north at the stadium in 1926. |
 |
 |
|
| The wings were added in 1927. |
 |
| The high school in 1930. |
 |
 |
|
| Bird's-eye view of Parkersburg High School and stadium in 1926. |
Looking west over the campus in 1955. |
 |
 |
|
| Construction begins for the PHS Field House in early 1950 (left); by October it was already taking shape (right). | ||
 |
 |
 |
||
| Original High School Floor Plan: 1st Floor |
Floor Plan: 2nd Floor | Floor Plan: 3rd Floor |
A Big Reds football game before 1931.
The Parkersburg Big Red Band, led by George Dietz, circa 1941.
 |
A Parkersburg Big Reds vest from 1934-35. |
PARKERSBURG HIGH SCHOOL (OLD) & CARNEGIE LIBRARY
Parkersburg's first high school, called the Washington school, was founded in the 1870s in a small frame building at the corner of Seventh and Green streets. The first graduating class, in 1874, consisted of three students--all girls. By 1890, enrollment had grown so much (there were 19 graduating seniors) that the Board of Education allocated funds for a new, much larger building, which was completed the following year at the same location. By 1915 the student body had grown so large that school days had to be divided into ten periods, with kids arriving at different times. To solve the problem, the Board bought a 27-acre plot of swamp land just off Dudley Avenue in 1915, drained it, pounded pilings into the ground and began building a new high school.
This 1909 photo of the Carnegie Library (at the corner of 8th & Green, right) and Parkersburg High was taken from Quincy Hill, looking southwest. Two blocks in the distance, at the corner of 7th & Market, are the Chancellor Hotel and the Union Trust Building.
 |
| The first library in Wood County was a private, membership organization located above H.P. Moss Bookstore at 415 Market Street in the 1890s. From there it moved to the City Building at Fifth & Market, then to Parkersburg High School at Seventh & Green. When Andrew Carnegie awarded $34,000 to the Wood County Board of Education to build a public library, this building (above) was built behind the high school at 725 Green St.and opened on Oct. 5, 1905. After leaving the Wood County Board of Education and becoming its own entity in 1967, the library moved to its new, present-day quarters at Emerson & 31st in the early 1970s. The old library building is now the Trans-Allegheny Book Store. The red building to the right is the Mt. Zion Baptist Church at Eighth & Clay, one of the city's black churches. |
 |
The Carnegie Library and PHS in the early 1920s. Eighth Street is on the right. (Photo courtesy of Artcraft Studio, 519-521 Market Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101; (304) 485-5771.) |
 |
| Parkersburg High School, built at the northwest corner of Seventh & Green Streets in 1891, is seen here around 1914. The Carnegie Library is visible behind it. This building became Parkersburg Junior High in 1917 when the high school was moved to a new, rural campus on Dudley Avenue, and was later rechristened Washington Junior High. The edifice was razed in 1964 and replaced by the Uptowner Inn (now defunct). |
 |
| The school in the 1890s. |
 |
 |
|
| Looking northwest, around 1910. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Washington Jr. High was demolished in 1964. |
| "I attended Washington Jr. High from September 1956 to May 1958. It was like an old barn. One day during my second year (eighth grade) we had just begun afternoon class when suddenly we heard a horrible explosion outside the door. The whole building shuddered. The heavy plaster ceiling of almost the entire first floor hallway had collapsed in a cloud of white dust. If it had fallen down only a few minutes earlier, many of us would have been killed or injured. But there's a happy ending: We got the rest of the day off."--Jim Dawson |
Content © Copyright 2001-2006 Jim Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
Site design © Copyright 2001-2006 Earl P. Reinhalter. All Rights Reserved.
Webmaster's site: ElectricEarl.com
Content © Copyright 2001-2005 Jim Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
Site design © Copyright 2001-2005 Earl P. Reinhalter. All Rights Reserved.
Webmaster's site: ElectricEarl.com