Woodward High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Woodward Career Technical High School
Address
7005 Reading Road
Bond Hill, Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton County 45237
United States
Coordinates 39°11′17″N 84°27′57″W / 39.18806°N 84.46583°W / 39.18806; -84.46583Coordinates: 39°11′17″N 84°27′57″W / 39.18806°N 84.46583°W / 39.18806; -84.46583
Information
Type Public, Coeducational high school
Motto Connecting Classrooms to Colleges & Careers
Superintendent Mary Ronan[1]
Principal Shauna Murphy[1]
Faculty 71[2]
Grades 7-12
Color(s) Blue and white[1]         
Athletics conference Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference[1]
Team name Bulldogs[1]
Athletic Director Jamal Walker[1]
Website School website

Woodward Career Technical High School is a public high school located in the Bond Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Cincinnati Public School District. It was founded as one of the first public schools in the United States in 1826.

History

Old Woodward Building

Front of the old building

Woodward was one of the first public schools in the country.[3] The land for the original school was donated by William Woodward and his wife Abigail Cutter in 1826 to provide free education for poor children who could not afford private schooling.[4] Their remains are buried on school grounds in the Over-the-Rhine area of Cincinnati (and it is a fixture of student lore that Abigail's ghost haunts the building).[5] The Woodward Free Grammar School opened on the site in 1831 and was the first free public school in the city. The original two-story school building was replaced in 1855. On the day after his election, President Elect William Howard Taft, who graduated from Woodward High School in 1874, laid the cornerstone of a third building, which opened to students in 1910 (39°6′38″N 84°30′36″W / 39.11056°N 84.51000°W / 39.11056; -84.51000).[3][6]

The site is also linked to the Underground Railroad.[7] William Woodward built a home on the site in 1832, where Levi Coffin and his wife, Catharine, lived from 1856 to 1863. Coffin (known as "The President of the Underground Railroad"), sheltered over one hundred fugitive slaves each year on their way to freedom in Canada. The home was first occupied by Henry Rucher, an early principal and math teacher at the Woodward school, and it was commonly known as the Rucher House. It later served as the Good Samaritan Hospital (still in operation at its later Clifton Heights location). In 1865 it became St. Luke's Hospital, where disabled Civil War soldiers were treated. It was replaced by residential homes in 1874, which were demolished to clear ground for the new Woodward school building in 1907.[8]

The brick, stone, and terra cotta building, designed by Gustav Drach, had some of the most modern facilities of its day, including flush toilets, central heating, and two swimming pools.[9] It is notable for its many Rookwood Pottery drinking fountains and tile fixtures, many of them gifts from student clubs and graduating classes in the early 1900s. Also notable are the stained glass windows of the same period in the main entryway, the largest of which is a memorial mural of "The Landing of William Woodward at Cincinnati in Fall of 1791", which was part of the 1855 construction and was preserved after that building was destroyed.[10] The current five-story building has 150 rooms and 225,000 sq ft (20,900 m2) of space, a third of which is unusable (including the swimming pools on the top floor).[11]

The building is listed in the Over-the-Rhine (South) Local Historic District and the Over-the-Rhine National Register Historic District.[12]

Bond Hill

In 1953 Woodward High School moved to a new location in Bond Hill, and the older building was designated Abigail Cutter Junior High School until the School for Creative and Performing Arts took over the entire facility in 1977.[10] Woodward High School has since moved four times, in addition to opening a secondary campus near its current location on Reading Road.

Woodward High School won the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships for baseball in 1931 and 1945[13] and for basketball in 1988.[14]

In August 2006, the City of Cincinnati opened Woodward Career Technical High School, which features a mixture of college-preparatory and vocational education. With the new addition, the original campus was now called Woodward Traditional High School.

In June 2011, demolition of the "Woodward Traditional High School" building was begun and the original 1953 Woodward High School building has now been completely demolished. A synthetic turf football field, baseball field, and fieldhouse will be built in place on the 1953 building.

Notable alumni

Earlier alumni received degrees from Woodward High School.

Art & entertainment

Athletics

Government and politics

Military

Education

Science

Notable faculty

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 OHSAA. "Ohio High School Athletic Association member directory". Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  2. Woodward Career Technical High School (2007-08-21). "Teachers 2007-8". Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Early History of Cincinnati Public Schools". Cincinnati Public Schools. Archived from the original on June 27, 2008. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
  4. Old Woodward: A Memorial Relating to Woodward High School, 1831-1836, and Woodward College, 1836-1851, In the City Of Cincinnati. Cincinnati: Old Woodward Club (Press of Robert Clarke & Co.). 1884. p. 29. OCLC 247492599.
  5. Flannery, Gregory (2001-03-15). "Why Is a Dead Man Raising Your Rent? And Why Didn't He Do It Sooner?". Cincinnati CityBeat. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  6. "Presidential visits to Cincinnati Photos". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
  7. Rolfes, Steven (Oct 29, 2012). Cincinnati Landmarks. Arcadia Publishing. p. 61. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
  8. Mrozowski, Jennifer (2004-01-06). "SCPA Boasts History Marker". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  9. Petrie, Laurie (1996-04-20). "Current SCPA Location Site of 1831 High School" (subscription required). The Cincinnati Post. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  10. 1 2 "Education". Cincinnati Reviews. Retrieved 2009-12-24.
  11. O'Niell, Tom (2002-11-15). "At This School Students Must be Creative to Perform" (fee required). The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
  12. National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  13. Yappi. "Yappi Sports Baseball". Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  14. Yappi. "Yappi Sports Basketball D1". Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  15. Kiesewetter, John (2001-08-26). "He calls the shots for Madonna". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
  16. Scheidt, Alan (1998-05-07). "Coming Home: CSO closes its season with a prodigal son". CityBeat. Retrieved 2006-10-11.
  17. MacGregor, Scott (2000-08-22). "Tristate boasts 11 Olympians". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
  18. Goheen, Kevin (2006-04-22). "Depth still needed on D-line". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company.
  19. Goheen, Kevin (2002-05-07). "Bengals removed, concerned". The Cincinnati Post. E. W. Scripps Company. Archived from the original on 2004-09-12. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
  20. Luckey, Tiffany (2006-09-25). "CPS opens new $41 million school". Cincinnati Herald. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
  21. Corning, Howard M (1956). Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing.
  22. Cincinnati Board of Education (2006-03-20). "The Early History of Cincinnati Public Schools". Archived from the original on October 9, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-02.
  23. http://www.wvculture.org/history/education/rayjoseph01.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=rays. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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