BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      When the members of the Boardman High School Class of 2018 receive their diplomas next spring, they will be the 100th class at the school to graduate, although the history of the local public school system dates back to 1904.
      Prior to that time, students attended no less than eight, one-room school houses that were scattered throughout Boardman Township. Those included Shady Hollow, on Tippecanoe Rd.; Gault School, at the corner of what is now Rt. 224 and West Blvd.; Kipper’s Corners, near Shields Rd. and Market St.; Pleasant Grove, on South Ave. in the northern part of the township; Rice School. on South Ave. in the southern part of the township (legend has it that President William McKinley once taught there); Chambers School, in Woodworth near North Lima; Heintzelman School, in the southwest portion of Boardman; and Cornersburg School, that was eventually annexed to Youngstown.
      Near the turn of the 18th century, in 1899, and with a population of less than 300 persons, township leaders began to study the concept of centralization---consolidating all schools into one building. There was much debate in the township, as ‘older’ citizens said they couldn’t understand the need for a central school; after all, they went to a one-room school.
      Then, in Feb., 1901, the issue of centralizing the schools was placed before the electorate. The issue lost, 53-44. However, the ballot issue was declared illegal, as the ‘school board’ learned it had the sole right to make a determination on centralization.
      According to a report authored by Edwin Walters, that he presented at the Randolph Reunion in 1928, it was on Apr. 18, 1904 ‘pioneers founders’ approved a resolution to establish a high school for Boardman. The founders included Mrs. Ollie Stafford, Mrs. Henry Heinztelman and William Baisler. Members of the school board were reported to include Henry Heinztelman, George Ripley, William Baisler and George Geesman.
      That same year, the first four-room, centralized school house was erected at 7330 Market St. (now the site of Ingram and Ingram law offices) at a cost of $4,469, according to Mr. Walters’ recollection.
      Less than 90 students attended the school, overseen by Supt. William B. Randolph, whose salary was $75/month. Randolph also taught ‘the first two years of high school,’ as students who wanted a four-year degree then had to transfer to Youngstown schools, either The Rayen School or South High School. Two teachers served the consolidated school---Miss Minnie Kyper taught fourth, fifth and sixth grades; and Miss Mae Lee taught first, second and third grades. Kyper and Lee earned $35/month.
      Students were transported to school on six, horse-drawn busses over roads that became so impassable in the spring due to mud, that most students walked to school. [Note: In the early 1920s, the school board purchased the first ‘motor truck for school transportation, a Reo Speed Wagon, with curtained sides, that hauled about 24 children. In 1928, the school board began a move towards school busses, a system that still operating almost 99 years later].
      In those early years of Boardman School, there were no organized sports, as Walters noted “we played shinney (a form of hockey) and some baseball on the Boardman Rd...Of course, there was no danger of automobiles, as they were as scarce as horses and buggies are today in 1928.”
      In 1906, Myrtle Hutchinson became the first graduate of Boardman High School, after finishing-up her study at The Rayen School in Youngstown.
      In 1911, the original ‘Boardman School’ was moved south near the site of what is today Center Intermediate School, and a four-room brick addition was constructed (and is still is use today). Boardman High School occupied only one room of the ‘new,’ eight room school.
      Up until 1911, Boardman High School was known as a ‘third rate school.’ It became a ‘second rate’ high school in 1911 with a two-year course of study, and then earned distinction as a ‘first rate’ school with the opening of the 1917-18 school year, having a four year course of study.
      The year before, in 1916, eight more rooms, a gymnasium and an auditorium were constructed.
      School year 1917-18 was the first year that Boardman High School graduated it first class as a four year school, a single student.
      That graduate was Effie Burke, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Burke, and one of eight Burke children to graduate from Boardman.
      As Walters noted as decade later, “Mr. and Mrs. Burke have the distinction of having the largest number of children graduated from Boardman High School.”
      At that time, Boardman High School was located in the “Boardman Rural School District.”
      A decade later, in 1928, Boardman High School graduated 34 students, and by that time, according to a report in The Mahoning Messenger, “Athletics played a prominent part in school activities. In the last several years, Boardman has won 30 championships in football, basketball and track.”
      The Boardman music program was then well underway and gaining a reputation, after first being organized by J.M. Minteer in 1922.
      Total enrollment at the high school in 1928 was 153 students, and with enrollment ‘skyrocketing,’ the school board approved $125,000 to build a two-story addition to the high school that included seven classrooms on each floor, and a ventilation system.
      In 1935, Boardman High School officially adopted the nickname of Spartans, after a contest sponsored by the school newspaper. Submitting the winning name was Joseph Diehm.
      Available records indicate Boardman High School had 17 students in the class of 1944 who never graduated due to service in World War II. They were Loran Anderson, Tony Andio, Jim Cicchillo, Julius Fidram, Jack Graft, Donald Gustafson, William Metz, Jack Mincher, Byron Sweeney and Earle Weichman, U.S. Army; Albert Charlton and Randall Henderson, U.S. Marines; and Richard Frame, Carl Kleyn and John Semko, U.S. Navy. 102 students received diplomas from Boardman High School that year.
      Following World War II, Boardman Township experienced rapid growth, spurred by the construction of the Greater Boardman Plaza by Edward J. DeBartolo in the early 1950s. The Boardman School building that housed all of Boardman’s public school students became overcrowded and the school board decided to ‘decentralize,’ resulting in the construction of Market St., West Blvd., Stadium Dr. and Robinwood Lane Elementary Schools during the 1950s, and Glenwood Jr. High School in 1961.
      In 1969, a new Boardman High School was opened at 7777 Glenwood Ave. Total enrollment in the Boardman Local Schools at that time was 6,402, a high water mark of sorts for attendance in the local, public schools.
      With the opening of the 2017-18 school year, current enrollment in Boardman Local Schools is 4,210 students, including 326 members of the senior class. Teachers don’t make $35/month, it’s more like $35/hour, if not more!
      A Boardman Celebrate 100 Committee has been formed and has planned three events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Boardman High School, including a celebration of athletics Sept. 22-23; and celebrations of arts and music, and academics later this school year.
      Fifty years ago, Boardman High School observed its 50th anniversary. It was then that Dorothy McCall Ross, a member of the BHS Class of 1936, offered this reminiscence:
      “We were before the pill and the population explosion which, inexplicably went hand-in-hand. We were before television, before penicillin, polio shots, antibiotics and frisbees---before frozen food, nylon, xerox and Kinsey. We were before radar, fluorescent lights, credit cards and ballpoint pens. For us, time-sharing meant togetherness, not computers; a chip meant a piece of wood; hardware mean hardware, and software wasn’t even a word.
      “In those days bunnies were small rabbits, and rabbits were not Volkswagons. We were before Frank Sinatra and Grandma Moses. We before Batman, Grapes of Wrath, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Snoopy. We were before scotch tape, disposable diapers, M&Ms and the ‘automatic shift.’
      “When we were in college, pizzas, Cheeriois, frozen orange juice, instant coffee and McDonalds were unheard of.
      “We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent.
      “We were before FM radio, stereo, tape recorders, electric typewriters, word processors, and disco dancing. Almost no one flew across country and trans-Atlantic flight belonged to Lindberg and Earhart. We were before Israel, the United nations, before India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iceland and the Philippines were independent nations.
      “Since our graduation (in 1936), 92 countries have come into being...
      “We were before pantyhose and drip dry clothes, before ice makers and dish washers, clothes dryers, freezers and electric blankets, before Hawaii and Alaska became states.
      “We were before Leonard Bernstein, yogurt, Ann Landers, plastics, hair dryers, the 40-hour work week, the minimum age. We got married first, then lived together. How quaint can you get?
      “In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mowed, coke was something you drank and pot was something you cooked in.
      “We were before coin vending machines, jet planes, helicopters and interstate highways. Schools were segregated and blacks could not play in the Major Leagues. In the 30’s, ‘made in Japan’ meant junk.
      “In our time, five-and-ten-cent stores were where you could buy things for five and ten cents. For just one nickle you could ride the rolley, make a phone call or buy a Coke. Or, you could buy enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You could buy a Chevy for $659, but couldn’t afford it...a pity since gasoline was 11-cents-a-gallon.
      “If anyone asked you to explain CIA, NATO, UFO, NFL, EPA or IUD we would have said “alphabet soup.” We were not before the difference in sexes was discovered; but before sex changes.
      “We just had to do with what we had and what we knew.”
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      PICTURED: Boardman High School was first located in this eight room building that first stood near 7330 Market St., the current site of the law offices of Ingram & Ingram. It was moved south near the current site of Center
      Intermediate School in 1911. At that time, the ‘high school’ occupied just one room of the building.