Between he was a resident near the area of the district. He secured the passage in the WV Legislature of special enabling legislature permitting the school district to purchase a tract of land of necessary size. Prior to the completion of the new high school, the school had been located on Seventh Street in Parkersburg's present downtown area.
Frank L. Packard of Columbus , Ohio was chosen over a field of ten submitted designs to be the architect on this project. In the period Parkersburg High School was the largest high school in West Virginia; this was due to several factors.
First, there were only two high schools in the county, PHS and one that served a small, rather underpopulated region in the northern part of Wood County, Williamstown High School. Second, all the other counties in West Virginia of Wood County's size in population had several high schools. The historically celebrated size of the school was somewhat magnified by the fact that the city for most of its history had no college.
In spite of periodic newspaper editorials urging the establishment of a liberal arts college in the community, none was established on a permanent basis until the late 's. For a period of time in the early 's, Ohio University, at the urging of the Wood County Board of Education began offering courses at the high school after a similar request to West Virginia University was turned down. The high school therefore became quite naturally an institution offering a diverse curriculum with a high quality faculty.
The school consequently was able to attract in the era some outstanding faculty who made significant contributions in education in the state. One was Marie Boette.
A music educator, she organized musical groups for her students which gained statewide recognition: Marcato, the Vivance Glee Club and the A Capella Choir. Hired away by West Virginia Wesleyan College, she continued to contribute to music education in the state and was recognized for her efforts by being granted an honorary doctorate degree by two colleges within the state.
Another was Sara Smith. A historian and a political scientist, she, too, was hired away from PHS. After earning a Ph. D from Columbia, she became a faculty member at West Virginia University. Her book dealing with China's invasion by Japan in , is considered as a definitive work.
After the opening of the new school in , Washington Avenue was further developed. By , fifty-two houses were on the street with expansion now east of Plum Street to Park Avenue. Among the new residents of Washington Avenue was a male physician named Dr. Shirley M. Prunty, who lived at Washington Avenue from to He had a desire to make an improvement on the street and acted on it thus changing the street's appearance in a dramatic way. He had decided that it would be an excellent idea if electrically powered boulevard lights were erected along the street.
He purchased a light to be placed along the street in front of his house, convinced other residents to do the same and then secured electricity from the West Penn Power Company. The residents celebrated on July 4, when the lights were turned on. For sometime following this, this street was known as Washington Boulevard but because of the existence of a Washington Boulevard in nearby Belpre, Ohio, the street gradually became known as Washington Avenue.
For several decades now, Washington Avenue has been the only street or avenue in the city to have retained its era type street lamps along its entire length. Over the next nineteen years from to the city, the high school and Washington Avenue grew. By the city's population was 29, and by it was 30, In order to accommodate more students at the end of the 's, a decade in American educational history known as the decade of the high school, north and south wings were added to the school in However, five years before, another modification had been made to the campus when a 10, seat stadium had been completed so that the high school's football team which had won state championships in , and would have a modern facility in which to play and its rabid followers would be assured of a seat at home games.
Following the stadium's construction, state championships were also won in , and At times it seemed that interest in football during this period overshadowed more intellectual pursuits.
This was demonstrated between and in the organizing of excursion trains to PHS games in Wheeling, Huntington and Clarksburg. This reached a high in The largest special train to ever run in the United States to transport persons to a high school football game was put together. It consisted of 4 separate units of 11 railroad coaches each and carried 4, people. Total Students:. Enrollment Characteristics school year. Enrollment by Grade:. Two or More Races. Enrollment by Gender:.
Free lunch eligible 1 : —. Reduced-price lunch eligible 1 : —. Please see this blog post for more information regarding free or reduced-price lunch and direct certification eligibility counts in CCD. Looking northwest, around The Washington Jr. High School band stands in front of the school's main doors in Washington Jr. High was demolished in Photo: Gary Traugh.
High from September to May It was like an old barn. One day during my second year eighth grade we had just begun afternoon class when suddenly we heard a horrible explosion outside the door. The whole building shuddered.
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