Long ago on independence square (Oregon: middle schools, counselor, firearms)

[SilverDoc]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

The William Chrisman High School on Maple Street was built around 1920, with the old Independence High School at Pleasant and Maple serving as a junior high.

For the life of me I cannot recall where the library was in the Maple Street WCHS. By then I had discovered girls or a girl and probably did not have any interest in reading.

When I went to the new WCHS on Noland Road I would frequently go to the library by getting a permission slip to leave study hall. The librarian was Mayme Piper and she was no nonsense and she believed in silence in the library but not for herself. I would get a Time or Newsweek magazine, sit down at a table and try to find articles I was interested in. She would yell at me from her desk that I was to read a magazine from cover to cover and not come in there to continually go from page to page. She yelled at anyone and seemed to have eyes in the back of her head when I would turn a page. Of course when this happened all the other kids would look up from what they were doing to see who she was yelling at. Reading a news magazine from cover to cover can get really boring--back then they were three to four times the size they are now.

If anyone remembers where the library was located in the Maple Street WCHS, please let me know.

The library was located at the back of the building with windows overlooking Lexington. I remember it being above the gym, because if you were in study hall and they were running around the indoor track, the library floor would vibrate. So...I believe that would place it on the third floor. But....I've been wrong before.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

For the life of me I cannot recall where the library was in the Maple Street WCHS. By then I had discovered girls or a girl and probably did not have any interest in reading.

If anyone remembers where the library was located in the Maple Street WCHS, please let me know.

Originally Posted by SilverDoc

The library was located at the back of the building with windows overlooking Lexington. I remember it being above the gym, because if you were in study hall and they were running around the indoor track, the library floor would vibrate. So...I believe that would place it on the third floor. But....I've been wrong before.

I remember the shakes!




Close Doc! It was above the gym, on the second floor. Directly above the library on the third floor was the...

[WCHS'59]

From The Examiner fifty years ago this week files:

"Lorne Greene, Ben Cartwright of the Bonanza television show, will be the featured attraction at the Independence Rodeo at the Harry S. Truman stadium, near U.S. 71 Bypass and Truman Road. The rodeo is being produced by J Bar H enterprises."

That was not much of a "stadium."

[WCHS'59]

Thanks, I remember the auditorium and the track but just cannot place the library, chuckle.

[Mad Anthonie]

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

When the building at Maple and Pleasant was destroyed by fire it was being used as a junior high school.

I am wondering where the students attended in the interim.

I attended the new Independence Junior High built after the fire on the same site for three years and distinctly recall where the school library was. It had a number of books marked inside as "Independence Public Library" and then remarked with "Independence School System" or words to that effect.

There is a cornerstone somewhere on that building--closer to Truman--that shows the year it was completed--but a new edition--closer to Maple--was added sometime before 1953. There is also a cement inscription over the door ways of the old part (that are now windows) that say "JVNIOR HIGH SCHOOL." I asked a teacher about that and she said that it was easier for the stone inscription fellow to make a "V" rather than a "U." Seemed strange to me since there were other curved letters. Years later I learned the real reason but have forgotten what I was told, chuckle.

That school was not named Palmer Junior High until a few years after I attended.

The portion of the building labeled "JVNIOR HIGH SCHOOL" is the oldest standing, but not the oldest. In Doc's pre-fire picture it would be just beyond the porch, closest to Van Horn Road. The fire destroyed the two portions in his pre-fire shot. After the fire the kids continued to attend in the northernmost section, which was saved. Due to the loss of much of the classrooms they had half of the kids attend mornings, the other half afternoons. They also had to share books, on account'a a lot of them burned up.

When time allows My Beloved and I hope to visit the library to view the Examiner coverage of this event.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

The portion of the building labeled "JVNIOR HIGH SCHOOL" is the oldest standing, but not the oldest. In Doc's pre-fire picture it would be just beyond the porch, closest to Van Horn Road. The fire destroyed the two portions in his pre-fire shot. After the fire the kids continued to attend in the northernmost section, which was saved. Due to the loss of much of the classrooms they had half of the kids attend mornings, the other half afternoons. They also had to share books, on account'a a lot of them burned up.

When time allows My Beloved and I hope to visit the library to view the Examiner coverage of this event.

According to some information on the web, the use of "JVNIOR" rather than "JUNIOR" apparently extends from stone cutter tradition and goes back to a time when there was no "U" in the alphabet. Or something like that.

I can recall there was a distinct difference when walking in the old part and then entering the new part.

[SilverDoc]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

I remember the shakes!




Close Doc! It was above the gym, on the second floor. Directly above the library on the third floor was the...

After I posted, I got to thinking about where the auditorium was and remembered that the gym was located essentially from the basement to the second floor, and the roof of the building directly above the auditorium extended higher than the surrounding area. Thanks for the added info, Mad. My memory tends to get a bit fuzzy about a place I hadn't been in for about 50yrs!

[WCHS'59]

From what I have been able to gather Independence Junior High School became Palmer Junior High in 1965. If they had a year book, there is no name provided for it between 1965 and 70.

In 1970 and later, the Palmer Junior High yearbook was called The Patriot.

My last year at Independence Junior High was 1955/56. The yearbook was called The Cub and it was not a hard cover effort being a loose leaf comb binding type book.

There was no gymnasium and no cafeteria when I attended. There were a number of outdoor volleyball and basketball courts in which home rooms competed against each other during good weather.

[pearjas]

Probably was jerry rigged! Crazy to think of all the people that used to be in that building on a daily basis. Just to the right, in the old True Value building, the True Value sign is still posted. So I knew it used to be something like that but had no idea what it was before hand!

Originally Posted by WCHS'59

This was the parking area for the Blue Valley Federal Savings customers with the Blue Valley building in the background. The parking lot did not open to Maple in the fifties. It really looks like someone has jerry rigged the entry that is there now.

[WCHS'59]

Originally Posted by Mad Anthonie

I remember the shakes!

Well, other than the shakes from the running track, I remember the Shakes--organized at WCHS in 1920-21.

The Shakespearean Literary Society girls periodically wore red skirts and white jackets and they were called The Shakes for short, with "Shakes" written on the back of their jacket. My Dickinson Road heartthrob was a member. I think they had a physical initiation into the society that was similar to a sorority initiation, that is, a little bit of harrassment, etc.