| YEARS GONE BY ARCHIVES |
| Pottsville Republican of May 5, 1911 SCHOOL BOARD HELD A BUSY SESSION The regular monthly school board meeting was held. Directors Crossley, Carr, Hoffman, Smith, Brown, Crevan, Reinhart, Kistler, Webber and Paxson were in attendance and likewise, Principal Heckert, Treasurer Schumacher and Janitor Hoffman. The amount in the general fund is about sufficient to carry the year's finances through. The tuition from Wayne and North Manheim Townships has been paid for pupils in the high school. The principal's report was read and his recommendations acted on. The attendance for the month was quite good and considerably better than the attendance for the same month last year. The enrollment for the month was 842 and the average daily attendance was 790. Edward Sterner's children, who are out of the district temporarily, were excused from attendance for the rest of the term. The board decided to attend the baccalaureate program in a body. Diplomas were voted to all seniors meeting the required conditions. The principal was instructed to secure ribbons for the diplomas. Miss German's request for a testimonial of her work was granted and the secretary directed to raw one up. Bids were received on coal for the next school year. Borda's bid for $3.98 per ton was accepted and 107 tons of coal purchased. The coal was inspected by the committee on its arrival before being put into the bins. reference to water meters for the main building. The company agreed that they would get all the water into one pipe for that building and put only one meter instead of three at that place, the board paying for the extra pipe. He also submitted Mr. Hill's bids on concrete walks, pavement and curbing at the South Ward building. The committee was instructed to go ahead and have the work done. The board voted to pay Miss Olwell $622.68, which amount she holds as a mortgage against the property recently purchased from the Rainbow Hose Company and to pay the Hose Company $377.32, the purchase price of the property. The former amount is to be taken out of the special building fund and the latter sum to be loaned from the sinking account fund. Pottsville Republican of May 11, 1911 SCHUYLKILL HAVEN SHORTS The final examinations will begin on Tuesday of next week in the grade school and Wednesday in the high school. The Reverend A. O. Reiter of the Trinity Reformed Church of Pottsville will deliver the alumni address in the Messiah United Brethren Church on Wednesday evening, May 14th. The subject selected for the discourse will be "Learning to See and Seeing to Learn." The reverend gentleman has a great reputation as a public speaker and the church should be packed to hear him. No admission will be charged. The high school boys were defeated by the Orwigsburg high school team on the latter's grounds last Friday in a very close contest, the game going to ten innings before being decided. On Monday, May 15th, the county superintendent's examinations for high school will be given in the main building, principal's office. On Wednesday afternoon of commencement week, the high school and the Alumni Association teams will struggle for supremacy on the baseball diamond. Each organization has a game to its credit, so you will want to witness the coming conflict, which will be the deciding one. An admission of five cents will be charged to cove expenses. Persons desiring commencement tickets must see members of the graduating class to obtain them. Pottsville Republican of May 26, 1911 NEW ALMSHOUSE WORK DELAYED Slow progress is being made in the excavating for the new insane asylum at Schuylkill Haven, notwithstanding the fact that a day and night shift is being kept constantly at work. Thus far little of the concrete foundations have been laid and the work has not progressed to the extent that the bricklayers can start. The reason for this is not exactly known. From reliable sources it was learned that for several days at a time the steam shovel was idle due to the breaking of the machinery. These breaks have occurred several times within the past few weeks and it was estimated by one of the employees of the almshouse that the contractor is losing nearly $500 a month due to these occurrences. That employee stated that the nature of the ground permits easy handling but that the steam shovel is entirely too light for the work it is supposed to accomplish. Some difficulty is also experienced in keeping a sufficient number of hands on the job as nearly every day men, mostly foreigners, are leaving and others taking their places. The getting of material such as sand, coal, cement and ballast to the scene of the operation also consumes much time. It was necessary for the contractors to construct a railroad from the electric light plant to the site of the new building, nearly a quarter of a mile. The material is then loaded form cars on the Lehigh Valley Railroad into smaller ones and then hauled up the incline by means of the engine located at the top. The smaller cars are then unloaded and sent back down the tracks for another load of material. Just opposite the dumping ground for these cars is located the concrete mixer run by steam and rather small in size. It is necessary to handle the greater part of the material for the concrete several times before it is placed in the excavations made for its reception. All this consumes valuable time. Another place that time is lost is in the distribution of the concrete. Not enough runs have been constructed and as a result the few men engaged in the work must pass each other probably several times on the same run. Four teams by day and the same number by night are used to haul the dirt from the steam shovel to the embankment, a short distance away. That number could be easily increased to good advantage. |