1953 Statesman article about opening of O. Henry Junior High

O. Henry first opened its doors for classes in September of 1953. The local newspaper included a story about it on August 25 of that year entitled “Austin School System Swings Into New Era” with an accompanying photo of the new campus at Exposition and West 10th Street.

Details about O. Henry are limited to a short summary, however, because the article’s primary focus was on Austin’s transition from a single high school town to a three high school city (William B. Travis and McCallum High Schools also opened for the first time in 1953).

The text of the article and the O. Henry photo are below for you to enjoy. Thanks to the great staff at the Austin History Center for their kind assistance.

The Austin Statesman, Tuesday, August 25, 1953

BACK TO SCHOOL

Austin School System Swings Into New Era

by JOHNNIE CRESENS

The opening of school next month will mark the beginning of a new era in the history of Austin.

Long a one-high-school town, it suddenly will become a three-high-school city. For Austin, there was no intermediate ground. It jumped, within a relatively short time, from one-high to three-high status. There simply wasn’t time to tarry at the two-high level.

Taking a long look at the big increase in the number of scholastics – with even bigger increases ahead – school officials decided as far back as 1947 that not one, but two, new high schools would be necessary to take care of the ever-growing enrollment. Contracts were let in 1951 and 1952. The result.

One new 34-room high school in South Austin – the William B. Travis.
And one new 41-room high school in North Austin – the McCallum.

BOTH SCHOOLS will open their doors for their first classes Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day.

The third high school, of course, is Stephen F. Austin High. Until last year the original school was known as Austin High, but the longer name now has been adopted to avoid confusion.

Meanwhile, two other large new secondary schools will also be used for the first time this September. One is the new O. Henry Junior High School at West 10th and Exposition, in West Austin; the other, the new Anderson High School for Negroes at Thompson and Hargrave, in East Austin (see related story and pictures, Page -).

The four represent an investment of over $4 1/2 million in construction costs, including kitchen equipment.

The urgent necessity for McCallum and Travis can best be discerned by a study of S.F. Austin’s enrollment figures, this year and last. During the 1952-53 school year completed in June, the high school was badly overcrowded, with a total enrollment just six short of 3,000 students.

This year it will be back down to the student load it can most comfortably accommodate – an estimated 1,708 students, or a little more than half as many as attended last year.

The difference will be divided almost equally between the new schools. McCallum will have a total of approximately 683 senior high school students, Travis about 694. Both will also have additional enrollment in the junior high grades – McCallum 653 seventh, eighth, and ninth graders, for a total enrollment of 1,336; and Travis, 314 ninth grade pupils, for a total enrollment of 1,008.

ONE RESULT of the opening of the schools has been the transfer to new assignments of several secondary school principals and other administrators (see related story, pictures, Page -).

In addition, the faculties of the three high schools were balanced as equally as possible between experienced teachers and new teachers. Some of the experienced staff in each department at S.F. Austin were transferred to McCallum and Travis, so that each of the three high schools will have a nucleus of teachers with experience in Austin High, and each will also have some new teachers.

Similarly, many of the faculty members at O. Henry were transferred from other junior schools so that it, too, will have a good core of experienced teachers as well as some new teachers.

The extremely modern, attractive physical facilities of the two new, red-brick high schools offer an interesting contrast with those of Austin’s earliest high school. So does the extensive curriculum now available to high schoolers here.

Back in 1881, when the Austin Public Schools were established, the system had  three departments- the primary (first four grades), the grammar school (fifth through seventh) and the high school (juniors, intermediates, and seniors). All 10 grades were taught in one building located on the site of the present Pease Elementary School.

AT THAT TIME, boys and girls were taught separately. In the high school department, students had their choice of a grand total of two courses of study. One of these was the mathematics course, which included all of the usual academic subjects with special emphasis on math and the sciences, and the other was known as the classical course, which included everything in the math course plus Latin, Greek, philosophy, and political science.

The high school building moved to quarters of its own in 1894 – the temporary Capitol building, just across the street south of the present Capitol, at 11th and Congress. When the building burned in 1899, the high school moved again, this time to the Smith Opera House in the 100 block of West Sixth.

Then, in 1901, high school was located in what is now Allan Junior High School, built in 1900. The present S.F. Austin High was constructed as a junior high in 1916.

Junior high and senior high switched locations in 1925, with the junior high grades to the present Allan, the senior high grades to the present Stephen F. Austin. That was also the year that the east half of S.F. Austin was built, and much other construction has been added since that time:

IN 1929, THE BUILDING was renovated and the gymnasium was added; in 1937 the west half of the stadium was constructed; in 1939 construction included a 24-room annex, the music and band hall, an underpass connecting the two sections of the school, the east half of the stadium and a field house; and just last year, most of the school proper underwent another renovation.

Here, in capsule form, are some of the essential facts and figures about Stephen F. Austin, McCallum, and William B. Travis high schools, and about O. Henry Junior High School:

STEPHEN F. AUSTIN, a 74-room school located at 1212 Rio Grande. Administrator: Lipscombe Anderson, principal (formerly vice principal); and R.V. Baker, vice principal (formerly principal of Waco Tech High).

It has a teaching, administrative, and clerical staff of 81.

Coaches: Johnny Kitchens, head football coach; Wallace Dockall, basketball and B-team football (formerly with San Marcos); Ben Lewis, B-team football and B-team basketball; and Charles H. Jungmichel, assistant football (formerly of La Grange).

Band Director, Don Hayes (formerly of Littlefield); choral director, Miss Virginia Decherd.

Athletic nickname, Maroons; colors, maroon and white.

McCALLUM, a 41-room school located on a 34.5 acre tract at 5600 Wild Street. Building cost, including kitchen equipment, $1,399,320. Architects: Page, Southerland, and Page. General contractor, J.M. Odom.

It has a teaching, administrative, and clerical staff of 62.

Administrators: N.H. Wittner, principal (formerly Austin High principal); Tommy Birdwell, associate principal in charge of junior high school program (formerly vice principal at Allan).

Coaches: Forrest Kline, head football coach (formerly with Austin High); Charles Munson, B-team football and baseball (formerly Baker); Frank Rundell, junior athletics (formerly Cross Plains); Milford R. Davis, assistant football and track (formerly Laredo); and James Raymond Viramontes, head basketball.

Band director, Frank Phillips (formerly University Junior High); choral director, T.H. Worthington (formerly Austin High).

Athletic nicknames – senior high, Knights; junior high, Scotties; school colors, senior high, royal blue and grey; junior high, purple and silver grey.

WILLIAM B. TRAVIS, a 34-room school located on a 34.7 acre tract at 1211 East Oltorf. Building cost, including kitchen equipment, $1,433,992. Architects: Jessen, Jessen, Millhouse, and Greeves. General contractor, J.M. Odom.

It has a teaching, administrative, and clerical staff of 50.

Administrators: W.A. Sloan, principal (formerly Allan principal), J. Raymond Fraley, vice principal (formerly on Austin High teaching staff).

Coaches: Barnes Milam, head football coach (formerly Austin High); Delbert Davis, basketball and B-team football (formerly Austin High); James Allison, B-team football and track (formerly Allan); June Davis, assistant football; and Emil Schroeder, junior athletics (formerly Temple).

Band director, Victor Williams (formerly Austin High); choral director, Alvis M. Autrey (formerly Amarillo).

Athletic nickname, Rebels; colors, red and gray.

New O. Henry Junior High, August 25, 1953. Click to enlarge.

O. HENRY, a 24-room school located on a 15.7 acre tract at West 10th and Exposition. Building cost, including kitchen equipment, $913,526. Architects: Fehr and Granger. General contractor, Leslie Crockett.

Administrators: R.M. Hodgkiss, principal (formerly vice principal of University Junior High); Marshel Ashley, (formerly on Austin High teaching staff).

Physical education and junior athletics, Herman (Buddy) Weise (formerly University Junior High); band director, Billy Joe Brown (formerly Belton), choral director, Miss Lorene Berry (formerly Fulmore).

Athletic nickname, Mustangs; colors, red and white.

Caption for photo of O. Henry:

NEW JUNIOR HIGH – One wing of the rambling new O. Henry Junior High School is show in this photograph, taken shortly before construction of the school was completed late this summer. The school. located at West 10th and Exposition, will be used for the first time this September. More than 900 students in grades six through nine are expected to enroll for the fall semester. The building contains 34 teaching stations, a gymnasium, a cafeteria and administration area (Neal Douglass Photo).