Lincoln Avenue School (circa 1910) now apartments
Broad Street School (circa 1910)
by Wendy Leshinskie
Viewing a Mennonite family heritage display recently in the Indian Valley Public library and seeing photographs of old school houses that have either disappeared or been re-purposed, I began thinking about my Souderton Area School District education. Although my experiences are not unique from others of the ‘Baby Boom’ era, I thought that I would share some of my personal memories.
While attending first grade at the Telford School on Lincoln Avenue, Miss Claus, my teacher, returned after the Christmas vacation with a different name, Mrs. Labs. (She had gotten married over the break.) There was some confusion until we got used to her new name. This was also the year I began to learn to love maps of all types. Mrs. Moyer, my second grade teacher, taught us to read, “See Jane run” in the Dick and Jane books. Hoffman’s Dairy delivered individual white, chocolate and strawberry milk in glass half pint bottles for afternoon break. I was one of the few who always ordered strawberry milk. Note: The library was at one time housed in this building which was later converted into apartments.
Third to sixth grades were held in the West Telford School on West Broad Street under direction of Mr. Robert Clemmer, the Principal. The big event here was May Day since it was a day of no classes! The morning was filled with choral singing and vocal solo and poetry memorization contests. (You wore ‘good’ clothes for these presentations and contests since the school photo on the front steps of the school was taken before the lunch break.) We would then walk home (yes, we walked home every day for lunch), change into play clothes, and eat lunch before heading back to school for the athletic challenges, among which were the 50-yard dashes and long and high jumps in the afternoon. Ribbons were awarded for first, second and third places. In fourth grade I was involved in the ‘book walk’, taking our text books from this old elementary school on West Broad Street to the new school on State Road (now the Indian Valley Public Library). Due to changing family circumstances, however, I never got to attend class in that new school, but attended grades 5 and 6 at the Franconia Consolidated School under the supervision of Mrs. Hallman. First day of fifth grade was a bit frightening, since I now had to tackle the uncertainties of riding a school bus. It did, however, establish an annual pattern of checking the Souderton Independent for the school bus numbers, routes, and pick-up and drop-off locations and times for the year.
At this time seventh to twelfth grades were held in the Souderton High School building on School Lane. The Middle School classes were housed in the oldest part of the complex and lunch times were fairly segregated, so there was not too much interaction with the older high school students. Some stand-out moments at middle school for me were: adjusting to no recesses; changing classrooms for each class; girls’ basketball; learning dance steps in gym class (the boys hated this); seeing the Air Force jet being pulled up School Lane for its placement at the corner of the East Summit Avenue playground; and sitting in Mr. Romano’s homeroom when it was announced over the P.A. system that President Kennedy had been shot. (Note- the High School is now gone and replaced with townhouses.)
Then due to changing area demographics, my ninth grade was spent in the new Indian Valley Middle School in Harleysville. How proud we were to be the FIRST graduating class at Indian Valley and setting good examples for the younger students! New experiences in middle school included: classroom windows that could not be opened; courtyards which we could not enter; foreign language classes; field hockey, football, basketball and track athletic sports teams; school dances; boyfriends, ‘dating’ and wearing some make-up for the first time.
Back at the Souderton High School for tenth to twelfth grades, how class offerings have changed! We had three tracks of study: academic for those going on to college, business with typing, shorthand and business math; and vocational training (Votech) for students wanting to work with their hands in ‘the trades’. There were mandatory ‘core studies’ every student took in some form or other – English, Social Studies, Math and Gym as well as Home Economics for the girls or Votech courses for the boys. Girls learned such skills as sewing, cooking and some child care while boys learned Shop – carpentry, electrical and automotive skills. Although I would have also loved to learn some of those Votech skills, girls were not welcomed into that masculine domain at that time! In my opinion, it is a shame those last classes were removed from the curriculum. I feel a great sense of personal accomplishment in being able to use my hands in the creation of something new, not to mention the ability to cook and sew on buttons!
These are some of the highlights of my personal journey through the local education system. As a family genealogist I encourage you to share your stories and memories with family members while some traces of these buildings and the stories captured within their walls may still remain.
