PART 1. ESTABLISHING AND BUILDING THE SCHOOLS

No more fascinating work can be encountered than the tracing of Glassport Borough's schools from the time it had only a frame building until it rated with the best in the county both in point of scholarship and equipment.

The Edmundson school is the first mentioned, but its date of establishment is unknown. The first settlers cabin was built in 1798, eight years after the first one built in Port Vue.

The first building for which there is any record is the Pleasant Valley School. The one-room wooden structure was built a block from the Second Ward School at Fourth Street and Erie Avenue in 1857. Later, school leaders prepared for the abandonment of the original Pleasant Valley School with construction of a four-room brick building in 1898. The old structure was abandoned and transformed into the jail and council chambers. Later on, the structure served as the borough stables.

Professor McMichaels is listed as principal of the school. Not only did the Pleasant Valley School serve as the center for academic education, but it was there that the Glassport Methodist Church and the Citizen Hose Company were founded. School leaders prepared for the abandonment of the original Pleasant Valley School with the construction of a four room brick building erected in 1898.

On July 2, 1902 the citizens of Glassport voted to withdraw from Port Vue. The Glassport School Board, elected in November of that year, convened on March 2, 1903 to consider an annex of six rooms to the Pleasant Valley School. A contract of $22,000 was awarded to the Lapsley Brothers Company for construction of the new annex. Work was rushed as fast as possible on the much needed addition. The new Pleasant Valley School opened in September, 1903 with a staff of nine teachers and Harriet J. Miller as its principal.

Christmas vacation began on December 24, 1903. During that vacation a great catastrophe struck the new school district. On December 30, a fire broke out in the annex at 1:45 a.m. and by late morning all that remained of the entire school and annex were ashes and smoking ruins. Many people claimed the fire was of incendiary origin.

During the month of January in 1904 the School Board and Principal Miller assigned classes to churches, store rooms, and other available places. This situation continued through the remainder of the school year.

Undaunted, the School Board decided to build again. Plans and specifications were presented on May 4, 1904. A contract was awarded to the Glassport Lumber Company for $27,112 to build a new school. The school officials recognized the educational need and the new school was built on the same Second Ward site. The new white-brick school building was officially opened and dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1904. --The citizenry were proud of their new school with its 13 classrooms, auditorium, and inside facilities. A plaque mounted in the school read:

Now the citizens of the First Ward clamored for an neighborhood school. Once again, recognizing and supporting educational needs, the School Board turned to erecting another building. Subsequently, on May 22, 1905 Glassport Lumber Company successfully bid on a four-room red brick building for $17,570. Later, a frame addition of four rooms was constructed to enlarge the building. The plaque mounted in this school read:

On September 11, 1905 the School Board agreed to send the 9th grade students to McKeesport as tuition students. Also in the 1905-1906 school term Harriet Miller was appointed Supervising Principal and 14 teachers were employed in the Glassport School System.

The following school year Glassport High School had its beginning when the School Board sent Glassport's 9th and 10th graders to the First Ward School.

A fast-growing community, Glassport once again pressured its school board to build yet another school. This time, in the Third Ward at the south end of town. On March 28, 1907 another contract was awarded to the Glassport Lumber Company for the construction of a new school. The white brick Third Ward School, a building with a Spanish tile roof and 12 classrooms, was erected for $37,838. The plaque commemorating its completion read:

On January 4, 1908, the first class entered the Third Ward School. It was made up of students from three classrooms that had been meeting in the Glassport Baptist Church and the Rushie Building who were assigned to the Third Ward School as were some of the pupils from the Second Ward. Later all secondary school activities were transferred to the First Ward School.

Charles C. Shaw spent seven years in the little red brick First Ward schoolhouse in Otto: three in the grade school and later four in the high school. His recollections note that he sat with another person in a narrow seat at chapel exercises, had a study period in a "smelly" chemistry laboratory, and studied English in a room "reserved for the Commercial Department." There was no gymnasium or auditorium.

After five years of valuable service Supervising Principal Harriet J. Miller retired and was succeeded by John Erhard for the school year 1908-1909. Miss Flora Smith was named Principal for the Second Ward School and Miss Carolyn Hunt for the Third Ward School. Glassport now had three fine school buildings, 21 elementary teachers, and two high school teachers.

On May 31, 1909 Glassport's first high school graduation was held. The ceremony, held in the Second Ward auditorium, was attended by the two high school teachers: Alice Alcorn and Emily Redmond. The first graduates were Mildred Davis (Calhoun), Edna Carothers (Griffin), Hilda Hoff, Ethel Williams (Keister), Marie Burkema (Lapsley), and its sole male graduate Regis Weaver. Seats in the auditorium sold for 15 cents and seats in the hallway went for 10 cents. Total cash receipts for the graduation ceremony was $31.75.

Early in 1911 the Glassport School board decided to build a four-room wooden annex on the east side of the First Ward building. As a result, there would be six rooms allocated for high school use and two classrooms for the four elementary grades. The elementary pupils would later be assigned to the Second Ward School.

J.A. Erhard died of cancer in the spring of 1912. He had been Supervising Principal of the Glassport School district for four years. Mr. Murray served as Supervising Principal for the remainder of the school term and briefly during the 1912-1913 school year. Miss Carolyn Hunt, principal of the Third Ward School, filled in for the remainder of that year.

High School principals in the early 1900's included Mr. Boggs, J.C. Jenkins, Mr. Dobbs, and Will H.Floto.

On June 1, 1913 John S. Hart from West Newton was elected Supervising Principal, succeeding Mr. Murray.

Melvin J. Naser who had served as high school principal for four years in Amwell Township in Washington County was recruited by Mr. Hart to succeed Will H.Floto as high school principal. Mr. Floto remained with the district as a teacher for four more years before retiring to become a building contractor in Glassport.

Under the direction of Mr. Hart and Mr. Naser the Glassport schools became a leader in both academic and extra-curricular activities. Glassport High School 's athletic teams held many championships. An extra-curricular pinnacle was reached in 1934 when Harvey Schauffler was named oratorical champion of the United States in competition in Kansas City, Missouri.

Due to over-crowding in the high school in the late 1920's a new high school was needed. A bond issue for a new Junior-Senior High School was defeated by 35 votes in a special election held in May, 1925. The final vote count had 428 opposed and 393 in favor of the proposal.

After two years of heavy campaigning (in which author George J. Gorun marched with fellow eighth grade students carrying placards stating the need for a new school) the matter came before the citizens of Glassport once again. In the November, 1927 general election, the town voted in favor of the new Junior-Senior High School. It was, indeed, a hotly contested campaign and the outcome was decided by a difference of only 13 votes: 887-874! The new Junior-Senior High School was built for a cost for $194,880.

The opening of the new school located at the corner of Third Street and Ohio Avenue was delayed due to some construction difficulties. "Happily, we entered a new modern building the second week of September, 1929. " It was complete with modern classrooms; a library; a woodshop with a separate drawing room; a home economics room; a health room; a modern chemistry and biology laboratory with a dark room and supply room; commercial machine rooms equipped with all types of modern office machines; an auditorium with a balcony and motion projection room; a gymnasium with a 450 seating capacity and locker rooms, showers, and office for the physical education department; along with a modern office with separate rooms for the high school principal and the district's supervising principal. Glassport Junior-Senior High School was certainly the pride of the community as the newest and largest of its schools.

The official plaque commemorating the building of the school listed the names of the Glassport School Board and others who provided leadership for this endeavor:

PART II. GLASSPORT MEMORIAL STADIUM

The last physical plant built by the Glassport School District was the Memorial Stadium located at Ninth Street and Monongahela Avenue which was under construction from 1948-1950. Built at a cost of $225,000, it was dedicated on Thursday, October 12, 1950. Features included a seating capacity of 4167 and concrete bleachers 100 yards long. Illuminated by 136 flood lights, it was the area's best-lighted stadium. (By contrast, at that time McKeesport's War Memorial Field had 89 floodlights and Clairton's field had 63). Two large players' dressing rooms with shower facilities are housed beneath the stands. The home dressing room has an equipment room for checking and storing equipment. There are separate dressing rooms for coaches and game officials. Rising above the stadium is a large glassenclosed press box and motion projection room.

The plaque marking the completion of the stadium reads:

On May 31, 1951 the Class of 1951 marched into the Glassport Memorial Stadium with special meaning for their graduation, they were the first class to hold its commencement ceremony at the new stadium. Earlier in the school year when the class voted on the dedication of the Glahisean - they departed from the tradition of designating a person and chose instead to dedicate their yearbook to the new stadium. The 1951 Glahisean dedication reads:

We, the Class of 1951, dedicate this edition of the Glahisean to the Glassport Memorial Stadium, and to the people of our town who loved us enough to build it. We are proud of it, and may it be a monument to the ideals of sportsmanship, fair play, and fine citizenship.

PART III. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Supervising Principal

John S. Hart served as Supervising Principal from 1913 to 1938. High School Principal Melvin J. Naser succeeded Mr. Hart as Supervising Principal in 1938 and continued in that capacity until June 30, 1961 when he retired.

In honor of his years of service to the Glassport School District the Glassport Teachers Association honored Mr. Naser at a retirement banquet at the Youghiogheny Country Club with George J. Gorun serving as toastmaster. Melvin J. Naser had served 40 years as an educator: four years as a principal in Amwell Township, 13 years as Principal of the Glassport Junior-Senior High School, and 23 years as Supervising Principal of the Glassport School District.

Upon Mr. Naser's retirement Joseph Como was elected as Supervising Principal and served in that capacity until the Glassport School District formed a merger in 1966 with Lincoln, Liberty, and Port Vue Boroughs to become the South Allegheny School District.

High School Principal

In 1938 Roy M. Hickes succeeded Mr. Naser as High school Principal and served until 1951 when he left Glassport to assume the duties of Superintendent in the Carnegie Schools. Robert E. Whirl was appointed to succeed Mr. Hickes. Upon his death Miss Lillian Demestichas became principal of Glassport Junior-Senior High School. When she left the district a few years later, Dr. Michael Radvansky was selected as her successor. Dr. Radvansky's appointment as Superintendent of the West Mifflin School District led to the appointment of Robert LaFrankie as High School Principal. Mr. LaFrankie was succeeded by Roy Siebert who served until 1966 when Glassport merged with Port Vue, Lincoln and Liberty Boroughs to form the South Allegheny School District.

*This documented was extracted from a book entitled "The History of Sports in the Glassport School District 1898 - 1966", which was researched and edited by George J. Gorun(GHS 1933) in 1992. Much of the material comes from a document entitled "Memoirs of Glassport School District 1913 - 1961" by Melvin J. Naser, Supervising Principal (1938-1961). The work of Dr. Velma Backstrom Saire(GHS 1951) for producing the fnal draft and layout of the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged, as well as the work of Teresa Honacki Tkac(GHS 1950) and Andrew Hrehocik (GHS 1946) for typing the original manuscript. The contributions of Charles C. Shaw (GHS 1928), reporter for the McKeesport Daily News and radio announcer for Station WCAU, Philadelphia, PA are also recognized. Advisor to the work was Dr. Roy M. Hickes (GHS 1925), Teacher and High School Principal (1929-1951).

Page last updated June 11,1998