The first Red Devil Revolution and Alumni Day started a little on the soggy side with torrential rains for about the first hour of the reunion, but as the day progressed, the sun appeared and classmates from the 20th and 21st centuries had a wonderful time reminiscing and catching up on the latest in one another’s lives. Alumni brought their young children, old photographs, pets, plenty of stories and laughter to fill the day. The 1982 Foundation provided concessions , souvenir sales, Water Gun Fights, Corn Hole Tournaments and entertainment as well as opening the old Calhoun High School to tours.
The Class of 1965 had 12 members in attendance, Class of 1982 had several members attending, organizing, and celebrating their 40th year and the Class of 2002 had 5 members present celebrating their 20th year anniversary, with the remainder attending being a hodge podge of various classes.
Speaking during the afternoon was Teresa Jones Overton from the class of 1982, Glen McEndree from the class of 1972 and Erin Smith Barnhart for the class of 2002.
Terry Harris gave a brief history of the Calhoun High School with information about it’s beginnings in 1915 when a bill for its construction was approved in the legislature. In 1919 Grantsville was chosen as the site for the school.
Due to WWI there was a shortage of materials which postponed construction until the June 20, 1920. Following the groundbreaking, it was 3 years and 3 months until the building was completed.
Those who have recently purchased building supplies will appreciate that when the contract was given to Bee & Board of Sycamore to furnish 100,000 ft of frame and sheeting from their mill, the cost was $72.50 for 1000 ft of first-class oak to be delivered to the site.
The construction engineer was from Xenia OH and A. Stump from Rocksdale was in charge to get the stone out, the steel beams and loads of cement. PQ Shrake oversaw the brick and moved his machinery into the school yard where he fired the brick at a cost of $15 for 1000. The stone construction is often referred to as Arnoldsburg sandstone. Arnoldsburg Sandstone can be found in WV, PA and OH, but is named after Arnoldsburg. Stonemasons were hired locally, one of which was Alva McKown, Crystal Mersh’s grandfather.
Once construction began approximately 70 students attended classes in the red brick courthouse in Grantsville from 1922-23.
The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1921, by the Masonic Lodge with a crowd estimated between 3500-5000 people. Restaurants and Hotels in town had a very busy day.
Classes began in the newly completed building in September 1923 with the first graduating class in 1925. A couple of the 19 graduates you might find familiar are Kathryn Witte Holliday and Gladys Weaver Stump. School enrollment jumped to over 250 students when a county-wide bus service was added in 1930. This covered all hard surfaced county roads.
February 21, 1942, could have been the end of CHS due to a fire on a cold night that found the town fire hoses frozen. The sandstone structure stood despite the gutted interior. School records, some musical instruments and typewriters were rescued. The following week classes once again began in Grantsville, in churches, courthouse, VFW, Masonic Lodge, Cabot office and car dealerships. The courthouse bell signaled the change of classes. In less than a year in January 1943 classes returned to the renovated high school.
The next major addition to the school began in 1953 when a contract was given to Riddle Construction for a gymnasium with stage, cafeteria, band room, home ec and vo-ag rooms. In May 1954 graduation was held in the nearly completed gym. Evelyn Yoak McCormick tolme how excited her class was to be the first one to graduate in the new facility.
CHS continued to operate until June 5, 1998, when the doors were closed.
The pictures below are of the first floor of the old School showing the original brick walls in the boiler room.
The first floor of the old school had not been previously opened for tours, but was opened opened for the event allowing Alumni to see the potential for the dreams of Crystal Laughlin Mersh and the 1982 Foundation. While some rooms have been let go into a state of decay, there are other rooms that you know when you walk in, they’ve got a new story to tell.
The closing event was the Rachel Lypsky concert brought together by WVRC Radio and The 1982 Foundation. The concert had the old school grounds rocking with awesome talent and an amazing show. For greater than two hours Rachel sang, danced and entertained the crowd with wonderful vocals and extremely talented musicians. The crowd was a good mixture of alumni and children and the newly built pavilion was a wonderful venue for the concert.
