10-27-2005
( Reply#: 166 ) |
Bill Bucko |
quote:
Originally posted by m10bob
I just listened to a Shep story in sundication from the late '70's called "Test taking", and for the first time, heard him indicate he went to Morton Jr H.S...
I had till now only known of his grade school and the Hammond H.S......
In Hoc Agricula Conc
In Est Spittle Louk
HUH? Again I say ... HUH?
I don't doubt your reporting; but what Shep said doesn’t sound right.
It took me just 10 seconds to dig out my Oliver P. Morton High School Top Hat yearbook, from 1966. And my Class of 1966 30th Reunion booklet, which says the old Morton (between 170th and 171st Streets, 1 block west of Kennedy Avenue) “was a landmark in our area since 1936.”
Well, let’s see. If Shep was born in 1921, that would make him ... 15. High school? Maybe. But Junior High????
A year ago I visited the Hammond Public Schools website: http://hammond.k12.in.us/ I thought I found a construction date for Morton H.S., of somewhere around 1936 to 1938. I’ve just gone back, but can’t find any dates, now.
Certainly, my 2 years of Junior High (7th and 8th grade) were spent in the old Warren G Harding “portable.” I only moved on to Morton for 9th grade.
Do I have photos of the original Morton High School I could share with you? Oh, yes, indeed, I do! However, I still doubt whether Shep ever attended.
Bill Bucko
P.S. One possibility: just to the north of the late 1930s Morton H.S. (on the same block) was a small, cramped-looking elementary building. By its look, I’d say it dated from about 1950. Perhaps there was an earlier structure that served for a while as a Junior High. Since Hammond High School, on Calumet Avenue, was and is 4 miles from Shep’s house ... perhaps the School Board did take pity on Junior High kids and didn’t make them walk that far!
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
10-27-2005
( Reply#: 167 ) |
m10bob |
This site indicates there was a Morton before the one built in 1936-37(?)
Note there is a H.S. and a "middle school"..(That has never happened in Indy, at the same time anyway)..
http://www.hammondindiana.com/history/school.htm
In Hoc Agricula Conc
In Est Spittle Louk |
10-27-2005
( Reply#: 168 ) |
Bill Bucko |
Thanks, THAT'S the page I was thinking of !!! On the Hammond, Indiana informational site (as opposed to the Hammond Public Schools site).
7040 Marshall Avenue is, of course, the TRUE Morton. It occupied the entire block. Football and track fields on the west. On the east, from north to south: small elementary bldg.; the large, MAJESTIC 3-story brick Morton I attended; and, as an afterthought, some small, cramped portable buildings for elementary kids.
Don't even THINK of that 6915 Grand Avenue address. That's the ERSATZ Morton, built by soulless bureaucrats with no appreciation of the great memories I and my friends shared at the TRUE Morton.
Thanks again!
Bill Bucko
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
10-27-2005
( Reply#: 169 ) |
m10bob |
Did you know 165th st used to be called Standard Ave. ?
There is another page at that Hammond history site which gives the older names of some of the present streets..[:)]
In Hoc Agricula Conc
In Est Spittle Louk |
01-20-2006
( Reply#: 285 ) |
wvcogs |
The REAL Morton High School at 7040 Marshall Avenue was a two year high school through 1952. (I'm not sure when it started.) Students transferred to Hammond High for the junior and senior years. Morton became a four year high school in 1952 when the three story additions were built onto both of the wings. The first graduating class at Morton was 1954. I have a copy of the Top Hat yearbook for that year.
Trivia -- When you drive west on 165th Street across the state line into Calumet City you are on 159th Street.
Former Hessvillite
Morton Graduate 1960 |
03-08-2006
( Reply#: 378 ) |
kball |
Well I was born in 1967 and I went to BOTH Morton schools. Only the old high school was a middle school and the new high school was, well the new high school. I am wet behind the ears I know but Hessville is home. |
03-09-2006
( Reply#: 384 ) |
wvcogs |
More trivia...
The REAL[:D] Morton High School building at 7040 Marshall Avenue that was a junior high and first two years of high school until 1952; a junior high and four year high school until about 1970; and a junior high until the building was demolished in the late 1980s was constructed in 1936-37. The architects were George Grant Elmslie and William S. Hutton.
The building is listed in the GUIDE TO ART DECO ARCHITECTURE IN AMERICA on the web site -- [url]http://www.achome.co.uk/artdeco/index.php?page=architecture&subpage=america[/url].
Ken...
Former Hessvillite
Morton Graduate 1960 |
03-09-2006
( Reply#: 387 ) |
Bill Bucko |
Late 1980s?? I had the impression the dastardly act (and it WAS dastardly!) was perpetrated in the early to mid- 1990s. My 1996 reunion booklet referred to it as though it were a recent event.
Bill (Down with the School Board!) Bucko
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
03-10-2006
( Reply#: 389 ) |
wvcogs |
I'm not sure of the exact date, but I am certain that my mother-in-law, who died in 1988, was still living when the building was demolished. It probably was 1987 or so. I'll do my best to find out the exact date from friends who are still in Hammond.
The new elementary school at that location was opened in 1992 according to the Hammond history web site [url]http://www.hammondindiana.com/history/school.htm[/url].
Ken...
Former Hessvillite
Morton Graduate 1960 |
