ALBION HIGH SCHOOL GROUNDBREAKING

In the early 1960s the Albion Public Schools made plans to erect a new high school to replace Washington Gardner High School, which was subsequently turned into a Junior High School. A series of legal battles ensued, and the process was delayed for several years until the summer of 1964. Those details can be found in my 1991 book "A History of the Albion Public Schools," page 57. This is a great reference book, and even contains the list of all graduates of Albion High School year-by-year through 1991. Have you got your copy yet?

On Tuesday July 21, 1964, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site on Watson St. where the new high school was to be built. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photo of that groundbreaking, which feature school board members and officials. Left to right: Albion Mayor-pro tem Lyle Johnson, George Matthews, Henry Dixon, Assistant Superintendents Earl Hogan and (behind him) John Schuring; Dr. Alice Campbell, principal Harry Williams, Pauline Chopper, Otis Myers, and Superintendent Carl Brautigam. In the front is board member Bob Geyer digging with the golden shovel amidst the tarp which had covered the nearby sign at this unveiling. Notice the sign looks like an Alex Chopper sign. How many of our readers were at this event?

Bids were taken in the summer of 1965. The construction contract was awarded to Miller-Davis Company of Kalamazoo, and the architect was the Warren Holmes Company. Construction commenced on September 1, 1965. The school opened for classes on January 9, 1967, and the Class of 1967 was the first to graduate in the new high school.

Using the year it opened as the reference point, our Albion High School building is now forty-five (45) years old! This is the "youngest" facility in our Albion Public Schools. What was the "shelf life" of some of our closed schools? (Note: dates given are those when regular classes were held) Austin School 1912 to 1968: 56 years. Dalrymple School 1918 to 1982?64 years. Washington Gardner building 1928 (final addition) to 2010: 82 years. For those that have remained open: North/Caldwell School 1952 to date: 58 years. Crowell School, 1955 to date: 55 years. Finally, Harrington School: 1957 to date: 53 years.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
	Michigan Prints by Maggie LaNoue Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops. Michigan Prints \| Albion Scenes \| Custom Cards \| Zazzle Gifts
	AlbionMich.net — General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net is a hub for community life in the greater Albion area, featuring current news, city council updates, river restoration stories, parks and trails. See Albion's beautiful Kalamazoo River waterfall as it looks today — and follow the story of its future restoration. Includes news from The Recorder and stories about Albion's 17 parks. AlbionMich.net \| Albion Blog \| Frank Passic on AlbionMich.net
	General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net offers two General Guides to the Albion area — one covering community life including city council, veterans, history, youth and wellness resources, and one covering the outdoors including roads, rivers, parks, trails and downtown. Both guides feature stories by local writers including contributors to The Recorder, sorted by topic for easy reference. General Guide — Community \| General Guide — Outdoors
	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
AlbionDesign.com — Communications Specialists Since 1981 \| Advertise on AlbionMich.com