CENTRAL
SCHOOL • 402 N. Warren
MONTANA'S FIRST
GRADED SCHOOL • Est. 1876
Stereoview
of a Helena classroom (presumably Central School), ca. 1875.
Central
School, ca. 1908
Two
Views of Central School, ca. 1930
COLLECTION OF NANCY GOODSPEED
Two early
1930s views of the present Central School, which was built in
1915 and expanded in 1921.
COLLECTION OF NANCY GOODSPEED
Helena High School
in the background.
Central
School playground, late 1940s
THE
WES AND CAROL SYNNESS COLLECTION
This playground
was the site of Helena's first cemetery. Most of the remains were
moved to the Benton Avenue Cemetery when it opened in 1870.
CATHOLIC
SCHOOLS
St.
Vincent's Academy
St. Vincent's
Academy, the Catholic High School for girls. Built in the 1880s,
it stood on S. Ewing across from the first St. John's Hospital.
Ms.
Sidney Armstong of Helena writes:
"St. Vincent's Academy was
the Catholic high school for girls only. My mother (born
in 1910), attended St. Vincent's. It had boarding students
as well as day students. The boys went to St. Charles
prep school, which was on the St. Charles College (now
Carroll College) campus. In those days, a number of students
did not go on beyond elementary school."
Thanks, Sidney!
An
account of the 1935 earthquake which damaged St. Vincent's
beyond repair, by former student Betty Sager:
"In
1935 I was a student at St. Vincent's Academy--that was
the Catholic School that was condemned after the quake.
I can still remember the scary feeling we all had at the
time. We were in a dormitory on the 2nd floor. I remember
looking out the window and everything was a bright blue
color.
"You
can imagine the panic of 50 or so girls. Sister said,
"Now we will stay in our beds and say the rosary.
Everyone settle down and lay quietly."
"When
we were finally allowed to get out of bed, we put on our
robes, and were led downstairs. A lot of the stairs were
damaged so we had to slide down the banister. What fun!
We spent the night on the lawn with many blankets.
"As
the building was condemned (I'm not sure how many days
passed), I was sent back to my family in Anaconda. I still
get that panicky feeling when a train goes by or I feel
another quake."
St.
Helena School
Finished 1909 -
Demolished in the winter of 2007-2008
In this 1940s
aerial view, we see the 1909 St. Helena School at the left, on
the SE corner of 11th Ave. and N. Warren St.
Early
postcard view of St. Helena School
COLLECTION
OF KENNON BAIRD
The St.
Helena Grade School on N. Warren, adjacent to St. Helena Cathedral.
It was contracted in 1908 by Bishop John Carroll, and designed
by architect Von Herbulis, who also designed the Cathedral.
In 2002,
the Helena Diocese announced its intention to demolish the
historic but long-vacant neoclassical building. That same
year, the school appeared on the Montana Preservation Alliance’s
list of Most Endangered Places.
Monsignor Victor Day, rector of
the cathedral, dedicated the school on Sept. 7, 1909.
The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth staffed the school
and classes began the next day.
The
building served as a grade school until 1936. At the
time, girls attended high school at St. Vincent’s
Academy while boys attended Mount St. Charles High School.
But
a 1935 earthquake damaged St. Vincent’s Academy
beyond repair. The Rev. James Tougas, the rector of
the cathedral, made room at St. Helena School for the
displaced students.
At
a 1936 Carroll College commencement, Bishop Joseph Gilmore
announced that a co-educational high school would move
into St. Helena School. The grade school was remodeled
and Cathedral High School opened.
For
the next 18 years the grade school and high school students
shared the same building. But in 1954, as high school
students outgrew the building, construction began on
Helena Central High School — the building that
now lines 11th Avenue and stands attached to St. Helena
School.
[
Two former students have emailed to say that the building,
including the 1954 addition, was always known as Cathedral
High, not Central High as the article states.] - KB
The
name St. Helena School was changed in the 1960s to Bishop
Gilmore School. But in 1969, Bishop Raymond Hunthausen
announced that both Helena Central High School and Bishop
Gilmore School would close at the end of the 1969 school
year.
Hunthausen
cited increasing financial difficulties as the major
reason. Helena Central High School now houses the Cathedral
of St. Helena Parish, while the Bishop Gilmore School
has sat empty for more than 20 years, its future riding
on a decision by the parish.
DEMOLITION
OF ST. HELENA SCHOOL
WINTER 2007- SPRING
2008
COURTESY OF TOM KILMER
On March 27, 2008
Tom Kilmer added...
"Work
on the demolition of the St. Helena School
proceeds at a slow pace. They started the real destruction on
the east side. The walls appear to be thick and stout. Real brick
construction, not just brick facing."
APRIL
2008 - DEMOLITION PROGRESSES
APRIL
2008
Many thanks to
Tom for these evocative photos of St. Helena's last days.
1908
ST. HELENA SCHOOL TIME CAPSULE OPENED
April 8 2008
On Tuesdsay
April 8, 2008, workmen opened the cornerstone of St. Helena School,
and retrieved the copper box pictured above. It had been sealed
since June of 1908. Independent Record reporter Martin
J. Kidston covered the event. Read
the story in the IR archives. Thanks to Judy
Bakke for the heads-up about the article.
Video
clip of the demolition process, spring 2008
VIDEO
COURTESY OF TOM KILMER
Building
interior exposed, spring 2008
COURTESY
OF TOM KILMER
HELENA
HIGH SCHOOL THE FIRST
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING
1893-1935
DEMOLISHED IN 1976
COLLECTION
OF KENNON BAIRD
Helena High
School, ca. 1900. Completed in 1893, it was located on the southwest
corner of Lawrence and N. Warren. In 1935, it was replaced by a
new High School, on Rodney St. at Helena Avenue.
The footprint
of the 1893 Helena High School building superimposed on a recent
satellite image. Central School is prominent.
Interior
of the old High School
Shortly before
demolition in 1976.
Helena
High School pennant, ca. 1915
Souvenir
pin tray, about 1900
Probably manufactured
in Germany.
Helena
High School, 1934
One year
before the great earthquakes. Compare this to the 1973 image below
to see how much architectural detail was lost in the quakes.
Old
Helena High School from Lawrence St., winter 1973-74
PHOTO
BY WALLACE "SKIP" MILLEGAN JR. (1951-1982) • COLLECTION
OF KENNON BAIRD
HELENA
HIGH SCHOOL'S
VIGILANTE
PARADE
THE FAMOUS MONTANA
HISTORY PAGEANT BEGUN IN 1924 TO PREVENT VIOLENCE
COLLECTION
OF BOB & SUSIE LINDEBERG
Vigilante Parade
float on Main St., May 12 1950
Around the
turn of the 20th Century, Helena High School had a tradition
called "The Senior-Junior Fight". It was a bloody
and destructive springtime affair, the object of which was for
the juniors to take down and desecrate a senior-class flag,
which seniors would run up a flagpole located between the High
School and adjacent Central School.
The fighting
got so bad that the School Board eventually had the flagpole
removed from the grounds. The problem was that seniors in subsequent
years simply ran their flag up the pole located atop the High
School building, and the fight continued on the roof.
A crackdown
came, and all aspects of the event were banned from the school
grounds. This had the effect of spreading the conflict all over
town, with a further escalation in violence and property damage.
Authorities
tried organizing alternative senior-junior competitions over
the years, including a baseball game, a tug-of-war and a wrestling
match. These events were seen by students as being too tame
and controlled.
There were
other unauthorized student actrivities during those years, including
"Sneak Day" in which truancy was widespread, and "Old
Clothes Day", when students would wear ragged clothes stuffed
with hay and straw. There was also "Costume Day",
which was held only once, but likely furnished the basic idea
for the Vigilante Parade.
In 1924,
meetings between students and administrators set into motion
a plan for the parade: a grand pageant of historical floats,
involving almost every student in a creative competition, and
having at its heart the theme of the tough pioneer spirit.
As former
(1907-1933) HHS Principal Albert J. Roberts said in a 1939 Helena
Independent story about the origins of the parade:
"This
parade, so little thought of at the time, and then only
as a splendid substitute for several lawless activities,
has more than any other Institution distinguished the city
of Helena and its high school. From It also thousands of
our citizens have obtained a knowledge of the life and customs,
of the thrilling story of the early days in the Treasure
state."
Because
so many photographs of the parade have been taken over the decades,
those presented here are necessarily limited to a representative
sample. If you have good color photos from the 1940s-60s, or
an unusually interesting parade photo, please
let me know.
COLLECTION
OF BOB & SUSIE LINDEBERG
"Montana
- The Land Before You", winner of the 1949 Vigilante Parade
Hllger Sweepstakes prize, at the instersection of Sixth and Main,
May 27 1949. The float was by Diana Connors, Bill Bradford and
Bob Painter. Diana, dressed as Sacajawea, points to the Land of
the Shining Mountains, showing the way to explorers Lewis and
Clark, Bill and Bob.
COLLECTION
OF BOB & SUSIE LINDEBERG
"Road Agents"
float, Sixth and Main, May 12 1950
COLLECTION
OF BOB & SUSIE LINDEBERG
"King Winter"
float, Sixth and Main, May 12 1950
COLLECTION
OF BOB & SUSIE LINDEBERG
"Prayer by
Jedediah
Smith" float, Sixth and Main, May 12 1950
COLLECTION
OF BOB & SUSIE LINDEBERG
"Tribute
to the Pioneer Mother" float, Sixth and Main, May 12 1950
Video
clip of the 1972 Vigilante Parade
COURTESY
OF KITTY ANN QUIGLEY TAALER
From the
promotional film "Helena-City of Gold", produced in
1973 by the Helena Chamber of Commerce.
THE SECOND
HELENA HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING
1935-Today
BADLY DAMAGED IN THE 1935 EARTHQUAKES
The Art
Deco 1935 Helena High School, 1025 N. Rodney, now Helena
Middle School. Brand new in 1935, it was severely damaged
by the earthquakes, especially the north end, which included
the auditorium. It took two years to repair the building, during
which time classes were held in railroad passenger coaches,
which set up on specially-laid rails on Lyndale Ave.
In 1955,
the present High School on Montana Avenue opened, and this school
became Helena Junior High School.
Earthquake
damage to the new High School, Oct. 1935
Interior
quake damage to the new HHS auditorium. The scale of the damage
shown here may not be apparent until one notices the rows of seats
at the bottom of the photo.
"High
School on Wheels" • 1935 - 1938
Railway coaches on Lyndale Ave.
A section
of Lyndale just north of the damaged new High School was closed,
and special tracks were laid there to accomodate the coaches,
which were donated by both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific
railway companies for use as classrooms.
Site
of the railcar High School
From
the Helena Daily Independent...
Railcar
classrooms in winter, 1935-36
COLLECTION
OF NANCY GOODSPEED
Photo by Gene Goodspeed,
class of 1937.
Railcar classroom
interior. Hey, where are all the girls?
COLLECTION
OF NANCY GOODSPEED
First aid
in the "High School on Wheels", 1935-36. School nurse
Ethel M. Dietrick is shown attending to a shin problem.
COLLECTION
OF NANCY GOODSPEED
Nurse Ethel M. Dietrick
tests a pupil's vision in the Home Economics car, 1935-36.
COLLECTION
OF NANCY GOODSPEED
Mr. Anderson's
reed instruments class in the "High School on Wheels",
1935-36. This wonderful photo by School Nurse Ethel M. Dietrick.
COLLECTION
OF NANCY GOODSPEED
Students assemble
beside the railcars to form the letter "H", 1935-36.
Helena
Junior High School Cafeteria, 1970
PHOTO
BY KENNON BAIRD
THE
THIRD HELENA HIGH SCHOOL
1955-Today
Architectural
drawing of the current
Helena High School, ca. 1953. The somewhat boggy tract of
land was once the site of Chinese vegetable gardens.
BRYANT
SCHOOL •
1529 Boulder Ave.
The first
Bryant School. This building stood from 1885 to 1913, when it
was replaced by a new building in the Mission style. That building
was destroyed by the 1935 earthquakes...
A new building,
one in a simpler art-deco inspired design, was erected at a cost
of about $70,000 (1936 dollars).If you have a good exterior
photo of the "new" Bryant School, please let
me know.
Bryant
School Cafeteria, 1947
This wonderful
1947 photo of the Bryant basement cafeteria is courtesy of the
Wes and Carol Synness Collection. A higher resolution version
of this image is available via email; drop me a line.
Noted
Western author Ralph
Beer attended Bryant School in the 1950s, and shares these
memories...
I
was a lucky boy to have been able to stand in that same chow
line a few
years later, with the younger brothers and sisters of the kids
in this
photograph, as the heavy ladies and neighborhood grandmas who
ran the
kitchen ladled out our lunches of commodity vegetables and hot
ground beef
and real mashed potatoes onto heavy porcelain plates.
The
lunches were cooked right there in the school basement each
day, and the heady smells from the kitchen rose and spread through
the hallways like spirits, teasing us and tempting us and making
it hard to focus on long division or nouns or fractions. Rome
may have conquered the Greeks, but that was genuine Montana
hamburger calling our names.
The
hot lunch program cost our folks a quarter per day and it was
worth it in spades. For some kids, it might have been the one
good meal they enjoyed that day. Most of us came from working-class
families, our dads employed by the railroad or Caird's foundry
or one of the smelters in East Helena. A few moms worked for
large employers like the phone company. But what money there
was in circulation during the Eisenhower years was snug if not
downright tight. A lay-off or a strike could put a hurt on a
family with several kids, but those quarters seemed to keep
coming in, so us kids could enjoy some hot food in a safe, well-lighted
cafeteria with our teachers seated at their own table nearby.
Those
hot lunches and some of those teachers, like Mr. Nelson, who
taught Sixth Grade, and Miss Dalrimple who taught Fourth and
Miss Erickson who taught Third, were among the genuine blessings
we enjoyed at Bryant School.
JEFFERSON
SCHOOL
The red brick
"Old Jeff" elementary school, on the northwest corner
of Highland and Dakota, was built in 1891, and was used for Baby
Boom student overflow even after the adjacent frame and stucco
"New Jeff" was opened in 1949. The old building was
demolished in 1971.
Opened in
1949, the new Jefferson School boasted ramps instead of stairs,
air conditioning, varying classroom color schemes (warm colors
on the north side, cool colors on the south), tinted windows,
recessed fluorescent lighting, lockers in the central corridor,
movable desks and chairs, and an "activity alcove" in
each classroom. The building was designed by Kalispell, Montana
architect Fred A. Brinkman (1883-1970), who also designed Helena's
new Broadwater School at 900 Hollins Ave., which likewise opened
in 1949. McKinnon-Decker of Helena was the general contractor.
Michael
E. Holmes, a student at both schools from 1958-60 remembers
Old Jeff....
"Old
Jeff was remarkable in that it was one of the few tall brick
buildings that survived the 1935 earthquake intact. Another
feature which none of the students will ever forget is the enclosed
three-story spiral fire escape slide mounted to the outside
of the building, which on rare occasions (at least annually)
students were able to enjoy. It was a joy to ride down, one
of the few vivid memories I retain of early elementary school.
"That and the old wooden desks and creaky floors in Old
Jeff; it oozed 19th century charm and you felt like it was a
special place, though a bit spooky. Also, in the winter climbing
up and down "the hill" without sliding down or slipping
was a challenge, particularly if it got icy.
"They
don't build them like that any more. Shame."
The
footprint of the old Jefferson School superimposed on a recent
satellite view of the site. Note that the footprint of the new
building compliments that of the old, even though they are of
vastly different styles.
CARROLL
COLLEGE
FOUNDED IN 1909 AS MOUNT ST. CHARLES COLLEGE
Mount St.
Charles College was renamed Carroll
College in 1932 to honor its founder, Bishop John P. Carroll
(1864-1925).
Earthquake
Damage to Carroll College, 1935
Aerial
photo of Carroll College, 1930s
Carroll
College Campus, 1940s
"Carroll
Village" Postwar Housing
Immediately
following World War II, Carroll saw a dramatic increase in the
enrollment of married students. Housing was found for them in
Vancouver Washington., where the Federal Public Housing Administration
was in the process of dismantling projects which had housed
wartime shipyard workers.
THE
FOOTPRINT OF CARROLL VILLAGE SUPERIMPOSED ON A RECENT SATELLITE
VIEW
Five buildings,
each containing four four-room apartments (which were likely
from Vancouver's Burton Homes project) were shipped to Helena
and rebuilt by the Carson Construction Co. on College-owned
land near the intersection of Euclid and Harrison Ave., where
the Lundy Center is now. It was dubbed "Carroll Village".
COURTESY
OF CATHEE CRAPO
On the right can
be seen several "Carroll Village" units. This view taken
from Harrison St., Easter 1962.
Carroll
College, 1960s
The
Carroll Campus, 1970s
KESSLER
SCHOOL
PHOTO
FROM "VALLEYS OF THE PRICKLY PEAR" - 1988 by LITTLE RED
SCHOOLHOUSE, INC. - OUT OF PRINT
South side of
Kessler School, 1898. Land for this building was donated in 1892 by
Nickolas Kessler.
His Kessler Brewery is seen in the distance.
FIRST
KESSLER SCHOOL DAMAGED BY EARTHQUAKES IN 1935
North
side of Kessler School, post-quake.
It was pulled down, and a new one-story
building was erected on the site.
THE
1936 BRICK BUILDING • 1980s
PHOTO
BY KENNON BAIRD
The open
house for this building was held Nov. 13, 1936 -- a little over
a year after the old school was demolished. It has seen several
additions and renovations over the years. It's notable in this
view that more than half of the original tall windows have been
covered over and/or removed.
PHOTO
BY KENNON BAIRD
Southwest
corner of Kessler School, 1980s. There
was once a pint-sized baseball diamond located just to the left
of this view.
Kessler
School classroom, ca. 2000
C. R.
ANDERSON SCHOOL
Orginally named
the West Side School
1960 - Present
FROM
THE 1965 LAST CHANCE STAMPEDE PROGRAM • COURTESY OF KITTY ANN
QUIGLEY TAALER
Early view
of the West Side School, NW corner of Knight & Cleveland.
Constructed from 1958-1960, it was renamed in 1961 for C. R.
Anderson, a noted Helena educator. The first Principal of the
school was Howard Jacobson, a post he held until 1968.
Several
additions have been made to the building over the years. In
July of 2005, an earthquake caused moderate damage to a section
of wall on the 1965 west addition, delaying the opening of school
for several weeks.
Your editor
attended C. R. Anderson from 1962-1965. The culture then (apparently
officially sanctioned) was one of oppression and violence. Corporal
punishment, humiliation and degradation of 7th and 8th grade
students - at least male students - was commonplace. It was
my first encounter with teachers who had no business being in
education; I couldn't wait to get out of this school.
DEACONESS
SCHOOL
This building
on 11th Avenue was originally the second Mills Hall, part of Intermountain
Union College. It was acquired by Intermountain Children's Homes
and Services after the 1935 earthquakes destroyed the original
Deaconess Home in the Helena Valley. This building served as the
Deaconess Home until 1970, when the current South Lamborn St.
facility opened.
