U.S. School Clothes: Individual Schools (H-L)
Figure 1.--Here we see the Hesston School in Kansas. The town was established as a village in Emma Township, Hesston began to grow as the Missouri Pacific railroad expanded westward through the state. We note a substantial school by 1893. Like many of the schools sat the time, it was painted white and not red. It looks like it was two rooms and very finely finished Figure 1). Hesston by 1912 had grown into an important shipping and receiving point for farmers throughout the region.
Many of the early settlers in the area were Mennonite farmers.
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A good idea of fashion trends in America, as children at public schools did not wear uniforms, can be assessed by looking at what the children were wearing to school. Unfortunately many of the available images are not identified or are not dated, despite this, the images are very valuable views of children's fashion trends.
Here is a list of schools alphabetized by school name. Unfortunately for many images we have collected, we do not know the name of the school. We will add images of schools which are identified by name as well as schools about which we have obtained information. Readers are invited to contribute here information and images about their schools and school experiences. We certaonly hope if readers find their school listed here that they will provide us some information on it.
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Most American secondary schools, and even some primary schools, beginning in the 1950s have have prohbited the boys from wearing short trousers. While shorts were not common in secondary schools, knickers were through the 1930s--at least for the younger boys. By the 1980s many boys during the summer wanted to wear shorts. This was becoming common in California, but not on the East coast. The students at Hackensack High School during June 1986 protested the dress code enacted by the Hackensack Board of Education which prohibited the wearing of shorts. The protest was very well organined. The news media was alerted to the protest. Over 400 boys wore skirts to school and all major NYC television stations sent their trucks and reporters. The Board of Education in response saw the light very promptly; met with the students, and revised the dress code.
Here is an elementary (primary) school in Haddam, Kansas. We assume that the name of the school is the Haddam Elementary School, although we are not possitive. We have a photograph of the school band during the 1940s. The school had a rather elaborate band for an elementary school. Most high schools had school bands, but it was less common for elementary schools.
The Harris Middle School was located in San Antonio, Texas. Middle schools meant different age groups from state to state. They were similat, but not identical to junior highs. I'm bot sure aboutthe age group here, but would guess about age 12. The portrait may have been taken in the 1931-32 school year, although wecan not be positive. Texas at the time had segregated schools with blacks and whites in different schools. I think in some school districts Hispanic childen wee segregated, but I am not sure about this. The expense of operating separate school systems probably limited this. Noyce boys wearing overalls, long pants, amd knickers. The boy in the front wear kickers with ankle socks. This began to be more common as knicker declined in poplsrity during the late 193s. fewer boys had kneesocks. A factor here is that Sa Antonia is located in the south and it can be quite warm.
Here we have an elementary (primary school). We know the name was the Havelock School, but we do not yet know where it was located. This is a unique enough name yhat hopefully we will be able to locate the school. The way the children are dressed, we suspect it was a small town in a rural area because several of the children are wearing bib-overalls. We believe this swould be the most common in the South. The school is a very substantial brick building which suggests to us that it was in a town. It looks to be a fairly modern school, perhaps built in the 1940s.
This school was the Hearst Grammar school. We are not sure where it was located, but New York seems a possibility. The portrait is the 7th grade B class. Grammar school in America meant primary school. (They were also called elementary or grade schools. Most wre six grades, but a few had 7th and 8th grade as well. Many of these children would finish their education with the 8th grade. A minority went on to high school for the 9th-12th grades. There were no tests involved, it was entirely a matter of whether the child needed to bring in an income to help support the family. The boys mostly wear knee pants or knickers suits with black long stockings. Notice the one boy wearing long pants does not wear a suit. The girls mostly wear white or light-colored dresses. One girl wears a sailor dress.
Here we see the Hesston School in Kansas. The town was established as a village in Emma Township, Hesston began to grow as the Missouri Pacific railroad expanded westward through the state. We note a substantial school by 1893. Like many of the schools sat the time, it was painted white and not red. It looks like it was two rooms and very finely finished Figure 1). Hesston by 1912 had grown into an important shipping and receiving point for farmers throughout the region.
Many of the early settlers in the area were Mennonite farmers.
This CDV shows a class at the Hill Street School located in New London. Connecticut. We do not know much about the school, except tht it was in operation during the Civil War. The portrait is undated, but was probanly taken in 1862. The small class size suggests to us tht it was a private school. There would have been public schools in New London at the time. These boys look to come from affluent families. The teacher is Newton Fuller. The portrait was taken at a photographic studio. A map has been added to give a school room look. The boys are holding books. The boys are identified: Lathan Fitch, Geo Brown Jr., standing; left to right, Fred Latimer; Fred Richards; Fred Bodet; ? Newcomb; Leslie Pratt. This photo was acquired with Newcomb and other family photos from New London, Connecticut. Some of the other images show the boys in military uniform posed with rifles. The photographer was Morgan and Bolles, New London.
This photo shows the pupils at Hiwassee School in Smith County, Tennessee, during 1902. It looks like a small one-room school, as many others at the time. Notice the rough-hewn construction. The boys all wear knee pants or overalls. Boys mostly wore suspenders. We cannot see the three older girls in the back row, but all the others pupils are barefoot. Also the boy in the front row, wearing his best clothing with a large white ruffled collar, is in bare feet.
The Holderness School is a respected private school in New Hampshire. It is an Episcopal (Anglican) boarding school for boys located south of the White Mountains in the town of Holderness, now adjacent to Plymouth. It was founded in 1879 along the lines of an English public (private secondary) school. This was the standard for private schools at the time. The school was originally only for boys but is now, like most New England prep schools, co-educational. Sports, particularly ice hockey and skiing, have long been an important tradition at Holderness. The first headmaster was the Reverend Frederick Moreland Gray, an Episcopal priest. Father Gray presided over the school from 1879 to 1886, starting with a small group of only 15 boys but quickly enlarging the student body to at least twice that number. The boys ranged in age from about 14 to 19 and were being prepared for entrance to colleges and universities. The boys tended to come from rather affluent families, which is still the case at Holderness, although, despite their privileged backgrounds, the boys are required to engage in a certain amount of physical work and public service such as helping rake leaves, working in the kitchen, or visiting the elderly in hospitals and nursing homes.
Holy Cross was a parochial (Catholic) school in the Bronx. We know very little about the school, except that it was operating in the 1940s. We have a photograph of a 2nd grade class in 1949. The children who attended parochial schools in New York were largely the children of Irish and Italian immigrants. By the 1940s they had been largely assimialated into the American mainstream. Some of the family names here are. Monahan, E. Sicilian, G. Finnegan, O'Flaherty, Pignoni, Valentino, D. Como, McCarthy, Barbarino, D. Mulcaty, McGuiness, J. Palumbo, Viola, Hennessy, Reando, P. McShane, Sullivan, Murphy, McVay, Murphy, Pareti, Dougherty, Boyle, Vinacchio, and Hurley. We alsdo notice some Polish and German names. The children do not wear school uniforms, which became very common in Catholic schools during the 1950s.
We have an image of the Hueytown School in 1912. Hueytown was a small town in Alabama. The image shows how common it was for children to attend school barefoot, especially in the South and rural areas. The children with jacket are barefoot too.
The Hygienic School was a historic Afro-American school in Pennsylvania. The photograph was taken in 1886-87. The school was located in Steelton, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg. Steelton was a the name suggests built around the rising iron and steel industry of the area. The steel mills at the center of the city rose to be a major industrial complex after the Civil War. The mills attracted workers in large numbers, among which were blacks primarily from the South. Low wages over time resulted in industrial strife. One of the company's strategies for dealing with labor unrest was to hire blacks and went into the South to recruit black workers. They were thought to less likely to strike and white workers often did not want to bring them into the trade unions they were attempting to form. The primary company was the Pennsylvania Steel Company which in 191 became the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The recruiters they sent into the South were successful in finding willing black workers who had few prospects in the Jim Crow South. Once a black community was established they attracted family and friends. This began before the Great Migration beginning during World War I, but increased during this period. The first blacks were housed in barracks built and operated by the company. The first recruits were mostly young men. As families formed, a black shantytown developed the old Pennsylvania Canal and along Adams Street. Other ethnic groups (Croats, Slavs, Germans, Italians, and others) attracted by the jobs gradually assimilated into multi-ethnic society, a pattern repeated elsewhere in the industrial Midwest. The prevailing racism of the day, however, kept Steelton's blacks in their own separate community. And this included a separate school.
Figure 2.--Many public primary-level schools were known by their numbers. For many years they were not named. Here we see a graduating class (8th-craders). This is Public School 29 in Indianapolis (1908). Notice the ribbons that the students wear in their lapels, the sign that they are graduating. The boys wear dark suits with white shirts and ties, knee pants, and long black stockings. For some reason these 8th-graders look slightly older than the children in the 1907 class at a different school. We suspect that this schools was located in a little better neighborhood.
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Many public primary-level schools were known by their numbers. For many years they were not named. Here we see a graduating class (8th-craders). This is Public School 29 in Indianapolis (1908). Notice the ribbons that the students wear in their lapels, the sign that they are graduating. The boys wear dark suits with white shirts and ties, knee pants, and long black stockings. For some reason these 8th-graders look slightly older than the children in the 1907 class at a different school. We suspect that this schools was located in a little better neighborhood.
We note some scenes from the Irwinville School, presumably in Irwinville, Georgia. We know very little about the school, but it seems to have had a substantial building.One photograph from 1937 shows what looks like the children going back into class after a recess. The firls wear dtesses. Several of the boys wear overalls.
The Irwin Ave. Junior High School was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Irwin Ave. Junior High Science Club photograph (1919) shows the boys quite dressed up. Most of them wear knicker suits with formal shirts and ties. A few of the boys wear only shirts without jackets. The variety of trousers here is
interesting. Notice the front row which shows long trousers, knee pants, and
above-the-knee knickers. These children would be about 13 or 14. The most
conservative parents would insist on knee pants and long black stockings
whereas the more liberal parents would allow long pants. The middle-ground
compromise would appear to be above-the-knee knickers.
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Here we have an image of the Jefferson Scool, an elementary (Primary) school. There are many Jefferson Schoolsin the United States. This one was located in West Allis, Wisconsin. It is a third grade class photographed near the end of the chool year in May 1953. The children would have been mostly 9-years old. The girls all wear dresses, ather long ones. The boys wear both collared shirts and "T"-shirts. One boy wears a tie and others have buttoned their collar button. The "T"-shirts are mostly stripped. One boy wears a Hopalong Cassidy "T"-shirt. Pne boy has suspenders. All of the boys wear long pants.
The Johnston School was located in Detroit, Michign. We do not know much about the school, but it was a public elementary (primary) school. It seems to be a fairly typical public elementary school at the time. The one photograph we have shows the children playing. It is not clear if this was their classroom because there are no desks. Perhaps they have moved them out of the way for a play session. We suspect that it was aspecial room because desks at the time were fairly heavy, too heavy for younger children to easily move. The children are having a play session. Perhaps it was a rainy day. The girls all wear dresses and the boys knickers.
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This school was located in Kern City, California. We do not know if it had a specific name or was just called the Kern City School. We have a single portrait from 1891. The portrait seems to show more than a single class, but not the older children that would have attended a primary school at the time. The children wear quite a large range of garments, providing a good view popular fashion in the 1890s. The many different garments and even hair styles here is particularly interesting.
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Landon School (Washington, D.C./Maryland)
The Landon Boys' School opened September 12, 1929, not a very propitious time for a private school. The school began using a comverted mansion on Embassy Row in Washington, D.C. They moved soon after in 1934 to Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington. The school still operates in Bethesda as a non-sectarian school and has an excellent academic reputation. We note a portrait of Hans Penndorf wearing his new school uniform about to begin at the newly opened Landon School in 1929.
Here we see boys at the Laramie Training School in Laramie, Wyoming, The photograph was taken
in October 2, 1916. The group is referred to in a notation on the photograph as the "Potato Club" under
the supervision of a supervisor, Miss Adsit. The Laramie Training School was an experimental school attached to the University of Wyoming at which prospective teachers in the Department of Education got
practical training as public school teachers. The boys have obviously collected sacks of potatoes for some reason--perhaps as part of an agricultural project, or perhaps as a charitable enterprise of some
sort. Note the scale for weighing the potatoes in the background. The boys are nicely dressed for their photograph, wearing suits and ties, or, in some case, coat sweaters with shawl collars. One boy wears a
Norfolk-style suit. The boys wear white shirts. Interestingly, for 1916, Laramie was already integrated, there being one black boy in the group. The boys all seem to be wearing above the knee knickers with long black stockings. For some reason, the boys sitting cross-legged in the front seem to have shed their jackets and are wearing only shirts and ties with their knickers and stockings.
Lawrenceville School (New Jersey)
The Lawrenceville School is a famous eastern prep school in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with quite a long tradition behind it. The school was founded in 1810 as the Maidenhead Academy and after various vicissitudes refounded in 1883 with its present name. HBC does mot yet have a page on the school, but we do have a pahe on a TV seies based on the school. "The Lawrenceville Stories" (1986). Earlier a film, "The Happy Years" (1950) was made with Dean Stockwell.
We are not sure about the name of the school here. We know the school was located in Lebanon, a small village in southeastern Red Willow County, Nebraska. We suspect that the school was called the Lebanon School. Here we have a school photo taken in Lebanon in 1907 or 1908. It is interesting because of the great hats the children are wearing. Another interesting observation is that only one boy is wearing overalls, and he has covered them with a jacket. . By the 1910s we see many American children wearing overalls to school. It seems that this was about the time that overalls began to be worn to school.
The Liberty School was located in Rusk County, Texas. It was a small one-room school. Quite a few of the boys wear bib-front overalls. Many of the children came to school barefoot in this 1940 photograph. This photograph was taken right before America entered World War II. America was just recovering from the Great Depression. After the War children coming to school barefoot was became much less common as did wearing overalls to school. After the War differences between rural and urban schools also began to disappear.
There are of course many Lincoln Schools in the United States. This one was located on Central Avenue in Middletown Ohio. The full name of the school was presumably Lincoln Elementary School, meaning a primary school. This looks to be some of the older children at the school, perhaps the 5th-6th graders which would mean children about 10-12 years old. Notice one girl wearing saddle shoes. The boys all wear long pants, except one boy who wears knickers with ankle socks. The image is undated, but we would guess about 1940, primarily because only one boy wears knickers.
The Live Oak Elementary School was located in Sutter County, California. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Northern California. It was nammed after John Sutter, of course on whise land golswas discovered, stting off the Califotnia Gold Rush in 1848. We have found a photograph of a class at the school during the 1920s. At the time the county was a largely rural county. The photograoh shows two different styles of schoolwear. Two boys in the front row wear white shirt, knickers, black long stockings, and shoes. The were presumably town boys. Most of the boys wear overalls and go barefoot. These were presumably farm boys.
This class photo of the Logan School, Denver, Colorado. It looks to be a elementary (primary schoo for grades 1-8. It could be a junior high school (grades 7-9). The only information we have was taken in June 1919. The portrait shows the children very dressed up for their school picture. The children seem to be about 7th graders (about 12 years old), but this could be an 8th grade graduation class (which would mean that the children would be about 13). The boys mostly wear formal suits with shirts and ties. Some of the boys wear knickers (both above-the-knee and below-the knee), and one or two boys seem to be in knee pants. They all wear black long stockings. The girls tend to wear white stockings. Two boys in the back row seem to be wearing only shirts without jackets. One girl in the front wear appears to wearing
spats--a bit unusual for girls, one might suppose. The photo seems to
have been taken on the front steps of the school in warm weather (it
was June--graduation time).
(La) Lumiere School (Indiana)
La Lumiere was a private Catholic boys boarding school at Long Beach near La Porte, Indiana. This was close to Norte Dame University where many of the boys went on to university. The school had a cobservative dress code requiring the boys to wear suits. One of their aluni, John G. Roberts, Jr.was appointed by President Bust to the Sipreme Court (2005).
HBC-SU
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Created: March 7, 2004
Last updated: 4:43 PM 7/11/2008
