History of Grove City Schools - Part 5

(The following was written by Faye White Moreland and is reprinted from “Reflections II”, a collection of local stories available at the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum. Any opinions made in the article are from the author.)Ethel Hoover and Bessie Grant of the class of 1898, selected the high school colors of crimson and blue. Teachers salaries ranged from $38 to $62.50 per month. The clerk and treasurer of the school board each received $12 per year. The school was getting crowded again. On February 2nd, 1902, Martha A. Houston, unmarried, sold Lots No. 30 and No. 31 to the Board of Education of Grove City Special School District for a total of $400. See Deed Book 349, page 283, Recorder's Office. The total of 4 lots comprised the city block is it now stands at the present school site. The city block cost a total of $450.01.When the Brumbaugh Law, classifying high school, went into effect, Grove City, having but one high school teacher, was necessarily a class III High School. This fact, and overcrowding of the grammar school grades, induced the Board of Education to submit to the people, the question of a board issue to provide more room. The issue was voted down. The following year, 1903, the question was again submitted. It carried. The second section of two rooms, one up and one down, was added to the northwest corner of the first section. This addition was made in 1903. Pot-bellied individual heating stoves were placed in the new rooms. Another teacher was added to the grade staff. Four grade rooms of forth-five pupils each were now in session.On September 1st, 1905, the high school course became a four-year course. There was no high school graduating class of 1905. Instead, it went another year and graduated in 1906. This was the first four-year high school graduation class. A second high school teacher was hired in September 1905, to give the extra instruction. Through the efforts of Supt. A.C. Fries, the Grove City High School became a Class A high school. The doors of colleges were then opened it to our graduates without further examination.