BeeLines - October 10, 2018
By Marybelle Beigh, Westfield Town & Village Historian
Some Relatively Recent Bits of Surprise Westfield School History Revealed
Preamble – or Momma Bear Time: Please read this short preface to clear up some rumors and confirm some upcoming changes.
The first three weeks of this September 2018, were planned to be a vacation trip for your Westfield Historian to visit her son, Mark, in Silverton, Colorado, do some back-country fun in a Sling-shot, hunt for Moose, Bear, Lynx, Beaver, and Porcupine with our cameras, and explore some exotic Utah national parks… but it didn’t happen that way.
Son Mark became very sick, apparently with a life-long and potentially fatal illness. So, Mom Bee was strongly encouraged to relocate to Durango CO (near Silverton, but much lower elevation) to resume the role of “Momma Bear” and help “Son Bear” find appropriate doctors and specialists to accurately diagnose and treat the malady.
Consequently, Momma Bear “Bee” aka your Westfield Historian, must sell her Edgewater Condo, resign as Westfield Historian, and find a suitable home to rent in Durango, to follow her next and most important ministry in life. Requesting prayers and help finding someone to purchase condo, and many thanks for any help for this difficult decision and direction.
And to answer an often-asked question, “Yes, I would be happy to write guest articles for the newspaper, on any Westfield History topic asked by faithful BeeLines readers, and for which I am able to locate the necessary information and documentation.”
Some Relatively Recent (1960s or so) WACS history stories:
While helping me sort through 12 years of accumulated historian materials and books acquired and produced in the role of Westfield Historian, my brother, John Blackburn, noticed some old yearbooks and located “Prospectus ‘67” which was the yearbook dedicated to our father, Donald Blackburn, the year he retired from teaching at WACS.
Many of you may remember Mr. Blackburn as the Drivers’ Education & Training teacher, but his teaching career in the Westfield Schools began in 1933 at the one-room school “District 3” on Hardscrabble Road, which was nick-named “People’s College,” (about which a previous, recent BeeLines article was published.) He taught there until 1942. From 1944 to 1949, Mr. Blackburn taught agriculture, and FFA, at Westfield High School; followed by Sixth Grade, Seventh Grade Math, General Math, and Drivers’ Ed. In 1957-58, my Senior Year at WACS, Mr. Blackburn began teaching the Middle & High School Special Education Class; which he continued until his retirement in 1967.
Leafing through the yearbook, special memories were recalled, and images found including a photo on page 6 depicting “The former Wayside building.” This building, which is at the south east corner of East Main Street and Persons Street, was originally a long-time furniture store business before the school obtained the property and building for expansion needs. It was converted to an agricultural and shop annex, and named Laughlin Hall, in honor of a long-time school physician, Dr. Van S. Laughlin.
With increasing enrollment, the school building my brother and I knew as the New School building, opened in 1955 at the present site, had to build additional classroom space in 1996. At that time, the original cornerstone, for which both my brother and myself had the opportunity to play in the Senior Band for the cornerstone laying in 1954, was removed. Apparently, that cornerstone was not incorporated into the additional structure, but now resides (mostly forgotten) somewhere in the basement of WACS.
Earlier Westfield School History Stories and a Mystery:
Which of you faithful readers can remember the old schools – Elementary and Senior/Junior High Schools, on the south side of East Main & Academy Streets (Elementary), and north side of East Main between Pearl and Holt Streets (Senior/Junior High)? Please share more stories, and many thanks.
Then, there is still the mystery of “What became of the School Bell that used to ring from the cupola on top of the Union (Elementary) School Building a hundred years ago?
Speaking of the cupola, did you know that as the 1867 Union School building aged, first the Cupola was condemned and removed, to become a Gazebo at a historic home – the Judge Campbell home at the corner of South Portage and Campbell Streets?
A recent email from a faithful reader reminded me of the above, commenting: “the articles describing the old Academy and the Wilson Auto Parts, both brought back a memory. As a teenager in the early 1980’s, I did yard work for the Harter family. They lived in the beautiful large home on the northwest corner of South Portage and East Campbell Streets, across from Wilson’s. Mrs. Harter always told me the gazebo in the back yard was the old cupola from the old Academy school…”
Later the third floor of the building was condemned, so that an addition to the 1902 High School building was constructed, called the Junior High wing, and housed not only 7th and 8th grades known as Junior High, but also 6th grade, which were moved from the condemned upper floor of the Union or Elementary school building, in the mid-1920s.