1st Street School	4th Street School	7th Street School
7th Street School Dedication	Elementary Faculty - 1939	Elementary Teachers - 1939
High School	High School Faculty - 1939	Junior Class - 1919
Carnegie Library

As we told you with no little pride before, we've always had a deep interest in seeing to it that our young people have a good chance to learn. You'll remember our saying that, as far back as 1865, we built our first school because the only other schools in our area were too far away. Well, that school served us well and long. When the steel company came to our town, we voted to sell them the land the school was built on, but we kept the building and later sold it, too, to Father Gallagher for $100. He used it for the first Catholic Church.

When we acquired property on Seventh Street, we built a new one-room, frame school house where the ice skating rink is now. But we knew that wouldn't be big enough at all. Plans were made immediately to build a larger school. We decided we needed one two stories high, four rooms. We advertised a request for bids in the Beaver STAR, the Pittsburgh DISPATCH, and the East Liverpool TRIBUNE in 1907.

While we waited for the construction of the new building, we had a problem. The one-room school was overflowing, and we had to find space right away. We found temporary space in the J. E. Cook building on Midland Avenue for $45 a month. Those are the rooms now occupied by the City Restaurant and the State Liquor store. Mr. Cook agreed to provide "two closets for boys and girls, and furnish ' light, heat and water," but the records suggest the temporary situation was not perfect. In October, 1907, the school board received complaints about "the inadequate closet facilities for school children and the principal and teachers not allowing children time to attend the call of nature."

Well, we awarded the contract for the new school for $12,358 and then added $359.14 extra to make the basement deeper and construction began at Ohio and Seventh. But underground springs caused us a lot of trouble before the foundation was completed. Finally after much ditching and draining, the school was finished.

The town was proud of that building, so proud it added a $152.50 bell tower to top it, and in 1908, the Neel school, that's what we named it, was in use. We dedicated the building with a real celebration: speeches, a gaily decorated town, and a parade starting at the "little church" at Seventh Street, down Midland Avenue to the lower end of Fourth Street, back up Midland to Eighth Street, up Eighth to Beaver, west on Beaver to Seventh, north on Seventh to the new school building. It was quite a day.

Three years later the new school was so overcrowded we had to get the old school back in shape. By 1912 we had to take temporary quarters in three different buildings in town.

Then on June 10, 1913, we voted a $30,000 bond issue for a new school building. We voted 50 for, none against. The next day, the Board accepted a bid of nearly $12,000 for doubling the number of classrooms in Neel school. The addition wasn't quite finished in time, so we set the opening day of school back nearly a month that fall.

But we weren't through with overcrowded conditions in our schools. We were still renting temporary quarters when the enlarged Neel school opened in 1913. The next year we began construction of another four-room building at First and Midland, but to give you an idea of how the school enrollment was increasing, the new building was scarcely finished before it was decided to add a second floor with four more rooms. When the First Street school was completed in 1915, Mr. Matthews, the architect, contributed a steel flagpole which was installed at the southeast corner of the building. And the American flag has flown from it every school day since.

About that time, folks in town felt the need for a longer lunch period for the youngsters. The Board approved the request, because lunch hours meant not only getting home to eat and getting back again but also taking Father's dinner pail down to the mill. Many of us can remember those running noontime breaks.

Before the First Street school was a year old, it was evident that we had to have more space. This time we chose a site at Fourth Street and Ohio Avenue. Youngsters started attending there in 1917. Again it was just finished when we added to the building.

When the Fourth Street school was finally completed, it was used as a combined elementary and high school. We didn't have a high school program in our town until 1914, but we had been sending those who wished to Beaver High school. Now using the new facilities at the Fourth Street school, we were able to graduate our first class in Midland, the class of 1918, one boy and four girls.

We knew we needed a separate high school building, and in 1927 we dedicated Lincoln High school. An addition in 1929 doubled the capacity of the building.

Our parochial school system began in 1928 when the Catholic church dedicated a two story buff brick school building with four rooms on each floor. There were only four grades but a plan was carried out to add one grade each year until there were eight grades. An expansion program is under way in the parochial school, too. Current facilities can accommodate only half of the eligible children. The new construction will provide four more additional class rooms for the education of our Catholic youngsters.

We took another big step in July of 1945 when we acquired nine acres of land in the east part of town on Midland Avenue to build an athletic field and stadium. And it's a beauty. We saw the first game played there in September of 1948. We added a quarter mile track and facilities for all field events to the field which is equipped for night events, and, in 1950, the permanent steel stands and a press box were constructed. Recently we added ticket booths and a large concession building to give us all in all one of the best athletic fields in Beaver County-maybe the best.

We don't want you to think that all our school problems concerned buildings. We had the important problems of maintaining a good educational program to meet our youngsters' needs and a good staff of teachers and administrators to carry it out.

In 1921, we became interested in the extracurricular activities of our schools and made arrangements for football and basketball. And in the same year, we talked about pre-school classes. The kindergarten classes were begun that year under private sponsorship but there were years when no classes were held at all. Then in 1931 our school board began a kindergarten as part of the regular school program. Today we have two teachers and 125 tots attend.

We're proud, too, that our Board of Education was farsighted enough to provide special education for some of our special children. In 1928, years ahead of many towns much larger than ours, we started a class for the mentally retarded pupils. Today, cooperation of the junior high school enables many of these youngsters to engage in regular classes.

Our schools have always been alert to the possibilities of adapting the educational program to the town's needs. In 1928 we began our first regularly organized physical education program. In 1929, we started a vocational home-making course for girls. A boys' vocational program continued through 1947, the girls'until 1953. In 1929, we started a band and orchestra in our schools. Today our marching band is one of the most outstanding in the area. Arrangements for religious instruction for high school pupils began in 1941 in cooperation with our churches. And most recently, in 1949, we added a course in safe driving to our educational program.

The health needs of our children haven't been neglected either. In the early days when sickness was prevalent in the community, the board would order the schools closed for a time then open them up after the school rooms had been "properly fumigated." In 1921, the Board hired Dr. Cristler to examine the children once a year, and, in 1926, a school nurse was hired.

The medical program grew to include pre-school clinics, administration of toxoids when necessary and chest x-rays. The Health Act of 1945 which was passed by the State legislature gave impetus to the program. The act mandated all school districts to make physical and dental examination at state expense of all school pupils every other year. A dental clinic was begun in 1953, and its services are available to all needy children. A medical clinic was also established at the Fourth Street school and properly equipped for use.

While we have been busy looking out for our children, we didn't forget the education of adults, especially the many of our citizens who immigrated from foreign lands. Night school classes were discussed and worked on as early as 1916. Classes for foreign-born adults were approved in 1919. By 1925 general night school was approved and since that time this has been a regular and an extensive part of the program for the schools. Any subject is taught if 20 or more of our people request it. Interest in the classes vary from year to year but mostly our folks want to know about subjects in the field of manual arts, home economics, and commercial subjects. These courses are free to our people. Those who come from the outside pay a small tuition fee.

We can't examine the 50 years of our educational growth without mentioning an important function of our school district:  the supervision and maintenance of the Carnegie Public Library.

A need for a library was recognized as early as 1914, and its most ardent supporters were Mrs. J. W. Daugherty and Mrs. William K. Hart. Through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Hart, the Andrew Carnegie Foundation agreed to construct a building for use as a library without cost to the community. Our borough agreed to supervise construction and maintain the building after completion. Later, however, it changed its thinking because it felt that the Library legally was the full responsibility of the Board of Education.

This was 1916 and our rapidly growing community was creating a severe demand for additional school facilities. These were critical problems for the Board, and it was reluctant to accept full responsibility of financing the library. However, the Board assumed the task, and the library was opened that year with Miss Marie Murphy as librarian.

In 1928 the Board of Education sought accreditation for the high school by the Middle States Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, but found we needed a high school library. Since the school building was already overcrowded, the basement room of the Carnegie library was completely improved to house the school library. The accreditation association approved this plan and placed our schools on their accredited listing.

From the library's shelves 24,000 volumes from technical subjects to children's books are borrowed by 2,600 users. The library's facilities are extended to all of us in Midland and to the people in nearby communities.

That's pretty much the story of our school system, its buildings, its program. There's a bigger story-one of the people who have taught our youngsters and administered the program. The individuals in the parade of these fine people, from Mr. Meeder who taught and was our first principal for $80 a month in 1907 to the newest of our teachers, are so numerous we're reluctant to mention them for fear we'd overlook some. And that wouldn't do. But we would like to mention Dr. Ralph Jewell who has been superintendent since 1942 and with our schools since 1929.

And the problems of the people-teachers, pupils, and taxpayers, there've been many. Some seem light now, but they've all been important and merited much serious consideration.

Today we have three elementary public schools, the parochial school, our high sebool-public school buildings and contents alone are valued at more than $2,000,000. We've come a long way from that first school built with Mr. Neel's encouragement in 1865.

And speaking of that first school building-do you remember what happened to it? Do you remember it became a church? Schools and churches are a pretty important background for a lasting community. We've learned a lot in Midland, and we pray a lot, too. Let's think about 50 years of worshipping.