Kenmore West Senior High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Established | 1940 |
|---|---|
| School type | Public |
| District | Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Principal | Douglas H. Smith Karen Geelan |
| Students | ~1700 |
| Colors | Blue and White |
| Mascot | Blue Devil |
| Location | 33 Highland Pkwy. Town of Tonawanda, NY 14223 |
| Website | Link |
Kenmore West Senior High School is one of the Ken-Ton School District's two high schools, the other being Kenmore East Senior High School. It is located in the Town of Tonawanda, but is named after the nearby Village of Kenmore.
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[edit] History[1]
[edit] Early years
Prior to its current location on Highland Parkway, there have actually been several other high schools serving Kenmore. The first of these schools was an old wooden building erected in 1892 at the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Delaware Road. When the infant village outgrew this building, it was demolished and the site used for the present Village Hall. The cornerstone for the next high school, the former George Washington Elementary School, now used by a number of agencies, was laid in 1910 and the building completed in 1911 at a cost of $50,000. William C. Urham was the first principal. The 1914 yearbook lists five faculty members and six graduates.
When Frank C. Densberger came to Kenmore in 1915 as high school principal, the enrollment of the entire school system had reached 773 pupils; thirty teachers were employed. Soon, the influx of population necessitated new facilities. The present Kenmore Middle School on Delaware Road was erected in 1924 with subsequent additions in 1928-29. Upon Densberger's appointment as the first Superintendent of the Kenmore Schools, Roy G. Freemen was appointed principal of the Senior High School. The Delaware Road building housed both the junior and senior high schools until 1940.
[edit] Highland Parkway building
In 1938, a WPA grant of about $700,000 was received from the federal government toward the erection of a separate building for the senior high school on Highland Parkway, and the school district provided over $1M in additional funds. The twenty acre plot on which the school is situated cost $35,000. The school opened in the fall of 1940 with fifty faculty members and 1250 pupils. In 1959, Kenmore East High School was opened as the district continued to grow. At that time, the Highland Parkway school officially became Kenmore West High School. Raymond S. Frazier was appointed to the position of principal of Kenmore West in 1952.
The community continued to grow in the subsequent years, requiring a classroom addition to the west wing of school in 1967-68. The latest building project was the construction of the new library information center on the west lawn, and the athletic complex east of the original gymnasium. The additions were planned by Buffalo architects Duscherer Oberst Design, and completed at a cost of about $10M in the fall of 2000. The design for the library won an award for educational architecture in the summer of 2001.
Kenmore West's enrollment grew steadily through about 1970, and reached its peak in 1969 with over 3000 students in grades 10, 11 and 12. Alan MacGamwell, a 1944 graduate of the school, was appointed its third principal in 1971, after serving as a teacher, coach and assistant principal in the Ken-Ton Schools. In that era, the school boasted large numbers of National Merit Scholarship winners. The varsity football team under coach Jules Yakopovich won the national championship in 1969.
MacGamwell retired in 1980 and now serves the Ken-Ton District on the Board of Education. Another Kenmore graduate, Charles Kristich, class of 1955, succeeded him as principal that year. The Kenmore community, like the rest of western New York, lost population between 1970 and 1990. West's enrollment dipped to a low of under 1400 students in the early 1990's, and many teachers were laid off. Despite the loss of population, however, Kenmore continued to be recognized for its achievements. In 1990-91, West won recognition as a New York State School of Excellence. The district was also honored with the Excelsior Award for Quality that same year.
Currently, West enrolls over 1700 students and has a full staff of over 175 people. The school's alumni include supreme court justices, nationally known scientists, astronauts and journalists, decorated military officers and local and state business leaders and humanitarians. One of these is nationally renowned journalist and author, Wolf Blitzer. Douglas H. Smith is the school's fifth and current principal, succeeding Kristich, who retired in December 1994. Smith was joined by Karen Geelan as co-principal in December of 2005.
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Silsby, Robert W. (1997). Settlement to Suburb: A History of the Town of Tonawanda. Sterling C. Sommer, Inc..
- Percy, John W. (1997). Images of America: The Town of Tonawanda. Arcadia Press.
- Milner, John (1995). Schoolbook: A Teacher's Memoir.
