School days
New facility marked key point for Ontario
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Saturday, July 26, 2008 9:42 PM PDT
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| Jessica Keller | Argus Observer
Ontario School District Operations Supervisor Duke Clinton looks at the original blueprints for Ontario High School, which was built in 1951-1952. |
ONTARIO — The dedication of the “new” Ontario High School was held with much fanfare and earnest, Nov. 11, 1952, on the 50th anniversary of the original construction of an Ontario High School, with a speech from then-State Superintendent of Education Rex Putnam.
According to the Nov. 13, 1952, edition of the Argus Observer, Putnam dedicated the school to “the future of young people and the future of the nation.”
“If people maintain the basic ideas the nation is built on it is necessary for young people to become grounded in the precepts and principles of American government and American institutions,” he is quoted as saying in the article. “That will be one of the important things learned in this building.”
The dedication ceremony, which accompanied tours of the facility by more than 1,000 school district patrons, however, was just the exclamation point to one of the top news stories in Ontario’s history.
The construction of Ontario High School was significant on a number of levels. The need for a new high school came right after a period of tremendous growth in Oregon.
In 1950, when the concept of a new school was first considered publicly by local school district officials, Ontario’s population had grown by 24 percent since the 1940 census was taken, according to Argus Observer archives.
The influx of people in the area, and the subsequent growth of the town and rural schools, led to the voter-approved consolidation of the rural country school districts — Cairo, Pioneer, Valley View, Lincoln and Park — with the Ontario School District. The consolidation and restructuring of the school district boundaries, enlarging the tax base for the Ontario School District, was crucial at the time because rural school students eventually made their way into the Ontario school system at the middle school or high school levels to complete their education.
At the same time, the three-story brick building that was the original high school was deemed insufficient because it was overcrowded and could not accommodate more students; it did not meet state standards for educational facilities; and it was also falling apart.
“The old high school? You’ve got to be kidding. That old high school, it was a piece of junk,” Ed Aspitarte, one of the teachers that made up the first faculty to teach at the new high school, said, adding the old school had pigeons in the rafters and the agriculture class was shoved in a small classroom over the school’s boiler. “It was a piece of crap really.”
The consolidation of the school districts into one, and the enlarged tax base to support the school district, however, meant Ontario district officials could adapt to the future.
“For the first time now, we are in a position to plan the size of the high school we will need,” then-Superintendent Arthur Kiesz was quoted as saying in a January, 1950, Argus Observer article. “Every effort will be made to get started soon. We are a little behind schedule on it now, but because of the situation we have never been able to proceed until now.”
Local architect Charles Johnston, who worked for a Portland company, had already drafted preliminary sketches, but with the consolidation, the effort to build a new school pushed ahead. The current location, on Idaho Avenue, was deemed ideal because the 20 acres purchased was plenty of room at the time and it was the biggest piece of property available that was closest to town.
Voters approved the purchase of the 20 acres for $25,000 in a bond measure. They approved a $663,000 bond for the construction in September of 1950. Construction began in 1951, and the building was completed in time for school in 1952 at a cost of $718,000. At the time, the 70,000-square-foot high school was considered state of the art, although members of the 1953 OHS class, the first senior class to graduate from the building, were just pleased they had a new school that featured its own auditorium, in-house library, 3,000-square- foot agriculture shop, cafeteria, draftshop, classrooms and gymnasium.
“Well we thought it was really neat because we came from a three-story stone building,” 1953 OHS graduate Harold Griffin said. “It was all ground level, so it was really great.”
Griffin’s classmate Charlene Jackson concurred, and said the auditorium was a stand-out feature at the school.
“It had a lot better acoustics than Four Rivers Cultural Center,” she said. “I mean, it was just like a theater. It was really neat when we walked down the aisle at graduation.”
While Jackson viewed the new building from a teenager’s standpoint at the time, she said she thought the building was pretty important for the community.
“It was all new and modern,” she said. “I think everybody was pretty respectful of it. I think the kids appreciated it.”
Aspitarte, 84, however said the building meant a lot to the community overall.
“The school was really a beautiful school in comparison to anything else in the valley,” he said. “It was really quite a feat.”
He said it featured the best gymnasium, which was built with a regulation-size basketball court and could seat more than 800, with the ability to seat more in the future. Overall, he said, the high school signified the community’s strength.
“I think it meant a lot. Gosh,” he said. “We were strong in everything. We were strong because we had some of the nicest new facilities in the state.
“The community thought it was an asset to the area,” he continued. “It’s just like anything, the newer that it is, the better it’s going to be.”
The high school looks much different now as it has adapted further through the years to accommodate additional growth and educational needs. The auditorium is gone, and in its place is the current high school commons/cafeteria. The switch was made because the original cafeteria and kitchen were needed for classroom space.
The agriculture shop was also replaced by classrooms, and the Vo-tech building was constructed separately from the main building.
A fourth wing, or the 400 hall, has since been added to the high school. Other rooms originally used for other purposes were converted into classrooms. Yet, other things remain the same. The science rooms, for example, used by high school students today are the same as they were in 1952.
“Right now, if you look at the science area, it’s no good,” Aspitarte said. “You have to have better science facilities. They were good science facilities at the time.”
Don’t forget to check out the Argus Observer’s 125th Anniversary special section in October.
