WASHINGTON GARDNER HIGH SCHOOL, Part 4.

We continue with our series about the history of Washington Gardner High School in Albion. Several years after the erection of the High School addition to Central School in 1922-23, the Albion school board proposed to erected a new grade school building attached to the east end of Central School complex. Plans called for housing junior high classes on the ground floor, and elementary grades on the second and third floors. An election was held on May 28, 1926, and voters approved the issuance of $175,000 in bonds, payable at 4 1/2 % interest.

Fred W. Schumacher, who constructed the Austin School in 1911, was awarded the contract on October 2, 1926 for $119,435, and construction began. Other contractors were also hired for their specialties. The design was to match that of the new High School west wing. The old 1885/1893 east wing which sat in the rear of the rear of the school complex was demolished as part of the project. The bricks and materials from those were used to erect the sports fieldhouse in Victory Park, which is still standing today as a park storage facility (That’s the building with the blue tarp roof, folks.). The cost of erecting that building was $2,000.

From our historical notebook we present a photograph taken in the fall of 1926 showing the construction of the new east wing. To the left is the 1906-07 built Central School structure with its two wings, and the 1922-23 built High School wing on the far left. Elementary school grades attended Washington Gardner in the east wing until Harrington School opened in the late 1950s. How many of our readers attended elementary school here?

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