Buchanan High School 1950-1959

School Board Members

Superintendents

• Mr. Harold Stark served from 1923-1954 our longest serving superintendent

• Mr. Pierre Bailey became the first new superintendent since 1923 in 1954 and served until 1968 

Principals

• Mr. Pierre Bailey served as the principal from 1942 until 1954.
• Mr. Richard Doughtery became the principal in 1954 after teaching and coaching at BHS and he continued as principal until 1961.

Graduates

• 1950—63
• 1951—74
• 1952—78
• 1953—67
• 1954—76—Student Jerry Lauver missed the entire school year due to polio
• 1955—64
• 1956—86
• 1957—104
• 1958—83
• 1959—119—Clark Equipment recruits and their families saw their children graduate resulting in this large class
• The high school faculty usually included about 30 teachers plus a full time nurse and a part time librarian.

Timeline

• New classes added during this decade included sociology, some in social studies, and shop.

• By 1950 BHS students were able to take a family living class taught by Mr. Stromswold where they could voice their opinion on family matters. 

• 1952—The City of Buchanan added stadium seats on both sides of the original bleachers which originally held 500 spectators.  The city budgeted $6000 for this much needed expansion of seating.

• The City of Buchanan sold to Buchanan Community Schools, fifty feet of the Memorial Field area to enable the school to build the new gymnasium in 1953. The City of Buchanan would continue to own Memorial Field until 1985 when it sold the field to Buchanan Community Schools for less than $100.
• A new gymnasium with locker rooms and the lunchroom were added to the west of the original 1922 high school and were dedicated on 12/11/53. The locker rooms moved from below the old gymnasium. This area became home economics with separate areas for foods and sewing until that department ceased to exist in 2004.  Today it is the home to the Culinary Arts program and a unique classroom. The new locker rooms below the gymnasium became the official nuclear shelter with a sign outside the entrance to the locker room stairs. Although never used as a shelter for an attack, the locker rooms became the area of safety during numerous tornado warnings and drills. All students could be sheltered in the basement, although students never found it to be a comfortable stay.

• BHS held the first basketball game in a new gym under Coach Steffen in 1953.  With a record of 15-5 the team won their first district championship.  At the regional tournament the highlight was the “massacre of state ranked Three Rivers, 70-46” only to lose the next game.

• As part of the new gymnasium a state of the art folding doors were installed to divide gym into two parts. These doors were used during physical education classes, Junior Bucks Basketball and Buchanan Floor Hockey for over forty years. The original gymnasium then became both a library and study hall

• The forward to the high school handbook in 1955 stated: “If you are really interested in becoming an integral part of Buchanan high school; if you’re willing to work to make it your school; if you intend to participate in Buchanan activities, to cheer tis teams, to uphold its traditions and standards, then you will find this book both helpful and interesting. Your success in your high school career will depend on your ability and willingness to adjust yourself to school life. The information and suggestions presented here should serve as your guide and helper. It should arouse in all a deeper interest in our splendid school and should serve to bring about a deeper spirit of unity and loyalty among teachers, students, and parents.”
• In 1955 the course offerings included:
  • Freshmen
    • English I–required
    • Social Studies–required
    • Algebra or General Mathematics–required
    • Gym–required
    • Shop
    • Homemaking I
    • Latin I
  • Sophomore
    • English II [academic or non academic]–required
    • Biology–required except for Ag. majors
    • Gym–required
    • Shop
    • Homemaking II
    • Agriculture I
    • Latin I
    • Typing
    • World History
    • Art
    • Trade School
    • Geometry
  • Juniors
    • English III [academic or non academic]–required
    • U.S. History–required
    • Gym–required
    • Spanish I
    • Chemistry
    • Advanced Algebra 1/2
    • Trigonometry 1/2
    • Advanced Typing
    • Shorthand I
    • Bookkeeping
    • Mechanical Drawing I
    • Homemaking III
    • Agriculture II
    • Apprentice Training
    • Commercial Law 1/2
    • Business Arithmetic 1/2
    • Trade School
  • Seniors
    • American Government 1/2–required
    • Family Living 1/2
    • English IV
    • Solid Geometry 1/2
    • Advanced Algebra1/2
    • Spanish II
    • Shorthand II
    • Advanced Typing
    • Office Practice
    • Commercial Law 1/2
    • Business Arithmetic 1/2
    • Sociology 1/2
    • Economics 1/2
    • Agriculture III
    • Mechanical Drawing II
    • Physics
    • Co-Op Training
• In 1955 the district required 18 credits to graduate of which two units were to include Physical Education.
• In 1955 the marking system was six week periods with the Michigan Standard System of marking being used–A [95-100], B [99-94], C [82-87], D [75-81], E [anything below 75]. In addition to academic grades, students received citizenship grades of superior, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, or detrimental. It should be future noted that the school valued attendance as demonstrated by a 3% cut on six weeks grades for an unexcused absence. A greater cut in grade could be applied in the case of truancy or skipping school.
• Smoking on any school grounds was prohibited.
• Students could eat lunch on school grounds only if they lived more than five blocks from school or mother and father were both unavoidable absent from the home. Students eating at the school could do so in the building or outside. If they ate outside, they “will be required to remain outside until 1 o’clock in good weather.”
• Students driving cars to school could not park on school grounds or behind the building.
• In 1955, lockers could only be used before school, after lunch and after school due to the crowded hallways. Remember the building housed students from elementary through high school.
• Two firsts occurred with the class of 1955. Senior Joy B. Holston married Ramon Sexton in November 1954. Ramon Sexton was in the U.S. Navy and assigned to a ship at sea after they married. As a result Joy Holston Sexton stayed with her parents in Buchanan. Since she wasn’t living with her husband she was allowed to graduate with her classmates. Her new father-in-law was a member of the school board, which may have helped. That same year students elected Joy’s new sister-in-law the president of the student council. Thus class valedictorian, Janis Sexton, likely became the first female president of the Buchanan High School student body that year. In 2022 Janis Sexton told this story along with the fact that her father was able to present diplomas to his three children and his daughter-in-law within four years.
• High school alumni Fran Raven Avers [‘62] noted that the lunchroom “had tables that could be pulled out of the wall for students to eat…lunches brought from home in paper lunch sacks.  You could have a drink of water from the fountain in the hallway.  {lunch] usually was a sandwich…and maybe an apple …retrieved from the locker.  A noisy lunchroom [ended with] a quiet time in the Study Hall or a walk ‘downtown’ [which] filled in the moments before beginning afternoon classes.”
• Pupil Conduct: “You are a representative of your school at home or away. Your conduct on class trips, in public buildings and at athletic contests comes in for critical observation from any one you may be visiting at the time. A few ‘rowdies’ in a group on a class trip or a few ‘poor sports’ at an athletic contest are marked as Buchanan high school ‘characters’ and not as individuals. The reaction is to give the school a bad name. Should your respect for and belief in Buchanan high school by conduct that does not encourage criticism.” These were the only rules listed in the high school handbook of 1955.
• Buchanan Community Schools built H.C. Stark Memorial Grade School [dedicated in 1959] during the centennial year of the city of Buchanan. This joined Moccasin School and fewer elementary students attended the high school building.
• For years Mrs. Dodge was the crossing guard in front of the building to help smaller children cross Chicago Street.
• Always a highlight was the Honor Banquet for seniors sponsored by the College Club and Electro-Voice at the Pickwick Club. For years Mrs. Dodge was the crossing guard in front of the building to help smaller children cross Chicago Street.

Student Activities

•  “B” club transitioned from varsity sweaters to leather sleeved varsity jackets between 1955 and 1957.
• Band
• Baseball team with undefeated team in 1955 
• Basketball players won district, regional and semifinal basketball championships with 12 players only to lose to River Rouge in Class B State Finals 51-48 in 1955.  This was BHS first time in State Finals since 1928.  There were also 17 on the reserve team and 22 on the Freshman squad
• Bookstore operated by the student body
• Boys’ State 1955
• Buckhorn [student paper]
• Camera Club
• Cheerleading squad BHS with two young men join in this decade 
• DAR Award became an annual tradition in 1955
• Debate club reorganized in 1957-8
• Electronics Club 
• Electronics Club by 1955
• Football had Varsity [26], Reserve [16] and Freshmen [23] teams in 1954-55
• Future Farmers of America
• Future Homemakers of America
• Future Teachers of America
• Girls Athletic Association 
• Glee Club
• Golf
• Latin Club

• Library Club
• Orchestra
• Pep Club members organized in 1956-57. These BHS students organized a to stimulate school spirit among students.  They formed an active cheering section for games, made posters, welcomed guest teams and promoted sportsmanship.  They welcomed students from grade 7 through twelve.
• Plays and assemblies utilized the auditorium

• Spanish Club
• Senior class took cruise on Lake Michigan
• Senior Trip 1954—cruise on Lake Michigan
• The Pines [yearbook]
• The Student Council collected clothes for homeless refugees from Hungary.
• Tennis was organized and coached by Mr. Kangas in 1957-58
• The city of Buchanan celebrated its centennial in 1958.  Originally it was merely a mill town on McCoy’s Creek.  It was incorporated in 1858 as a village and named after the 15^th President because he supported Michigan’s statehood in 1837.
• The popcorn smell became a part of basketball history.

• Usher Club
• Velmarian Literary Society
• Wolverine Boy’s State
• Wolverine Girl’s State
• Wrestling was organized at BHS with Coach Pendley, a wrestler at MSU, in 1957-58
• Youth Council [Teen Center] engaged students outside of school with Miss Maude Slate. She supervised recreational, social and cultural activities while teaching them some of the functions of self- government.

• Athletics–By the end of the 1950s there were the following sports for boys
  • Baseball [2 teams]
  • Basketball [3 teams]
  • Football [3 teams]
  • Golf
  • Tennis
  • Track
  • Wrestling
  • Junior High teams at 7^th and 8^th grade.  
  • Girls only had the Girls Athletic Association, Cheerleading [2 non-competition squads] and a Tumbling Team for halftime shows.