Over the past couple years, I’ve written brief articles about the history of the public and parochial high schools in Youngstown. Today is the day for Woodrow Wilson High School. I had two personal connections with Wilson. One was that when I was visiting my girlfriend (now my wife), who lived in Brownlee Woods in the days when I-680 ended at South Avenue, I often cut over to Gibson, drove past Wilson, and took a few other side streets over to Midlothian. The other is that my wife’s best friend from childhood to this day was a Wilson grad (my wife went to Cardinal Mooney). It turns out that this was not uncommon–students from the two schools often grew up and hung out together.

With the growth of the Southside in the 1920’s additional school space was needed. Woodrow Wilson opened in 1928 to serve junior high students and initially also had six classrooms dedicated to grades 1-6. There were also two rooms dedicated to Fresh Air students with special needs. By 1932, with the opening of Bennett Elementary and increasing crowding, the decision was made that Wilson would serve only Junior High students, grades 7-9. In 1936, students moving on to 10th grade stayed at Wilson and by the 1938-39 year, it became a full-fledged high school with enrollment totalling 1551 students. In 1939, an addition was built for vocational and arts programs.

Joan Minenok Yanchick (’72), a source for much of this article, described Wilson as the hub of the community. Various extra-curricular programs from athletics to cheerleading to arts and drama programs meant that students were often around the building from early morning until 10 pm in the evening. There was always a great sense of both pride and cameraderie, beginning in the early years when students and faculty teamed up to collect the funds to plant lawns and landscape the dusty and muddy surroundings left by construction of the school. In Joan Minenok Yanchick’s day, she recalls how a group of 28 girls gathered each day in the cafeteria, pushing tables together.

Every school has traditions. One begun in 1928 that continued for many years was the bugle call that accompanied the flag-raising each day. Wilson was also an innovator among Youngstown schools, instituting the first afternoon conference period between students and teachers to discuss the day’s school work. They were also the first to establish a permanent homeroom for all years of the high school. For many years the last part of the lunch period featured motion pictures in the auditorium. For two cents a day you could see movies like Captain Courageous. The auditorium was also the site of many outstanding play productions, some under the direction of Bob Vargo, including Oliver and Oklahoma.

Wilson continued to change over the years. A new wing was added in 1953, and in 1954 a World War II Memorial was dedicated in remembrance of Wilson graduates who gave their lives in service to the country in that war. Later, when the building was razed, the wall was preserved and installed in the new Woodrow Wilson Alternative School and Virtual Academy. In 1962, Wilson’s teams, long known as the Presidents, became the Redmen. In 1985 Bernadine Marinelli became the first woman to serve as principal.

Like all schools, students found ways to engage in a variety of high jinks. In the mid-1960’s, a tree in front of the school was cut down. Many possible suspects were suggested, including Mooney students, but the identity of the prankster remains a mystery. Students were permitted to walk home for lunch. Some took advantage of this to hang out and smoke with friends at a pizza shop across from the school until school authorities figured out what was going on and declared the place “off limits.” Perhaps the most famous and abiding mystery is whatever happened to the engine buried on Earth Day in 1970, a symbolic act to represent eliminating the pollution produced by internal combustion engines. At an event sponsored by Student Council and the Key Club, a Health Department official spoke on pollution, the engine was buried–and subsequently disappeared. When the Wilson building was razed, people searched the area where the engine was buried with metal detectors, but it could not be found.

As Youngstown’s school population declined from the 1980’s on, South High School closed in 1993 and then East in 1998 (to subsequently reopen in a new building). Students came to Wilson from both schools. In 2004, the school transitioned to a “Small School” concept with part of the school becoming the Class Academy and part the Center for Interactive Exploration. With further enrollment declines, the class of 2007 was the last to graduate from Wilson. On May 26, 2007 over 2000 alumni walked through the school for the final time, sharing stories with their children and grandchildren. The building was razed in 2008 but the Wilson name lives on at 2725 Gibson as the Woodrow Wilson Alternative School and Virtual Academy. It houses the War Memorial and serves grades 3-12.

The hallways of Woodrow Wilson High School are only memories, along with the strains of “Wilson High, We Love You Dearly” and the Wilson fight song, to the tune of Ohio State’s “Across the Field.” I suspect a number of graduates still have their copy of Orion, their school yearbook and reminisce at alumni reunions. Many alumni will drive great distances just to have dinner with another Wilson alumnus. Once a year, a number of alumni gather for the Woodrow Wilson Geneva Bike Run. It sounds to me that for many, ties of friendship run long and deep.

I hope those of you who are Wilson alumni will add your own memories to this history. Go Redmen!

_______________________________

I’d like to thank Joan Minenok Yanchik for her help with images, memories, and history of Wilson without which this article would not have been possible.

The “History of Woodrow Wilson High School” compiled from Olga Jaronski (’39) and Debbie Smith (’68) was an invaluable resource, also scanned and sent to me by Joan Minenok Yanchik.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!