Olyphant Central School

Most of the people who were members of St. Patrick’s Parish were of Irish descent. Many of the families had lived in the United States for at least one generation. The newly arrived Slovak residents went to Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Church; the Poles went to St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church. Other Eastern European immigrants went to Saints Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and All Saints Russian Orthodox Church.

Other speakers at the afternoon ceremony included the Pennsylvania Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reed B. Tietrick (Harrisburg, PA); and the Superintendent of Taylor Schools (Taylor, PA), Prof. M. J. Lloyd. The Benediction was given by the Reverend Richard Powell of the Congregational Church.

The evening ceremony was also conducted by Prof. Cummings. This ceremony consisted of musical performances and another speech by Deputy Superintendent Tietrick. The school’s first principal, Prof. L. F. Hanahue, and first assistant principal, Miss Mary Jane McHale were present at both ceremonies.
The new brownstone building was designed by Lewis Hancock, Jr. of Scranton. The prime contractor for construction was F. E. Sykes & Company. Dickson City Lumber was subcontracted to do the woodwork. It cost about $45,000 to build. There were 10 classrooms, each with the capacity for 48 students. There were also two recitation rooms; a 14 foot by 28 foot library; and a 15 foot by 24 foot directors’ room. There was a 32 foot by 77 foot auditorium with a 12 foot by 22 foot stage, and four-hundred opera chairs. It was hailed as one of the most modern learning facilities in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
In addition to the Olyphant High School, Lewis Hancock, Jr. also designed the Bliss-Davis Building that is at 150 Adams Avenue (on the corner with Spruce Street) in Scranton, and the Bishop’s Residence near St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton. He worked with Theodore Koch to design the Williamson Building that is on the corner of Delaware Avenue and Lackawanna Avenue in Olyphant.
Lewis Hancock, Jr. designed the home for entrepreneur Joseph Cassese. The home was built at 1000 Clay Avenue (on the corner with Ash Street) in Scranton by stonemason Frank Carlucci. The Joseph Cassese House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 24, 1997.
The original Olyphant Central School was demolished, and the building materials were salvaged, and used to build a neighborhood elementary school on Adams Avenue in the part of Fern Hill called Tiger Valley.

The place got its name because of a small dip in the topography, and a tiger had escaped from a circus that was held there. The tiger was never captured.

This new four-room school was also designed by Lewis Hancock, Jr. It was built by Dickson City Lumber for $14,000. It opened on March 1, 1911, and was called the Roosevelt School. The principal at this school was Miss Gertrude Weaver. She was also a teacher at the school. The other two teachers were Bertha Walker and Mary McCormac. Together, they provided instruction for 120 students. Contrary to the local legend, President Theodore Roosevelt did not attend the dedication ceremony for this school. When Theodore Roosevelt visited the area in August of 1910, he saw the Roosevelt School in Pittston.

Around 1912, the Pennsylvania Coal Company began construction and excavation for the Underwood Colliery in an area along the Olyphant-Throop border. There was a breaker and three mine shafts. Workers from Throop and Dunmore were in walking distance; workers from Jessup rode a

train.
The supervisors in the mines were called miners. The men whom the miners supervised were referred to as laborers. The laborers worked underground, but were not called miners.
As part of this operation, the company built the Underwood Village. This was a mining settlement that consisted of twenty duplex homes on the Olyphant-side of the border that were rented to laborers; and eight single family houses on the Throop-side of the border that were rented to the miners. There was a library and a two-lane bowling alley.
On October 5, 1914, a three-room school was opened in the Underwood Village. It was built by the Pennsylvania Coal Company for students in first through sixth grades, and leased to the Olyphant and the Throop districts. Teachers who were assigned to this school by the two school districts were subject to the approval of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. The children of the laborers in seventh grade and above were bused to school in downtown Olyphant. The children of the miners in seventh grade and above were bused to school in Throop.
Because of the growing population of Olyphant, the newer high school was no longer large enough to contain all of the students. In March of 1915, a three-story annex that extended the structure to Lincoln Street was completed. The annex was similar in appearance to the original part of the building, but it was less ornate. It was built with steel instead of wood frame. It was said to be fireproofed throughout. The architect was Edward H. Davis of Scranton. The prime contractor was Herman Woelkers, also of Scranton. It cost approximately $125,000.
Edward H. Davis was also the architect for the Scranton National Bank Plaza at 108 Washington Avenue and the Bosak Bank Building at 434 Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton. Mr. Davis worked with George Lewis to design the Lewis and Reilly Building at 114 Wyoming Avenue and the Scranton Times Building at 149 Penn Avenue in Scranton.
The combination of the original building with the annex was called the Olyphant Central High School. On the first floor, there was a continuous hallway between the original building and the annex, but there was a noticeable transition. It was obvious that one part of the building was built after the other. On the second floor, there was a three-step upward transition when going from the hallway in the original building to the hallway in the annex.
On the first two stories of the annex, there were four classrooms per story, for a total of eight new classrooms. On the third story, there was a Physics laboratory and a Chemistry laboratory, along with associated preparation areas. There were also two other classrooms.
On the level below the first story of the annex, there was a new auditorium. In the basement of the annex, there was a set of double doors. Behind the set of doors there were steps that led downward. The floor of the auditorium was at a lower level than the floor of the basement in the rest of the building. Because of the slope of the landscape, there was a ground-level entrance on Lincoln Street for access to the auditorium. On Lincoln Street, the annex was effectively four stories. The auditorium in the original part of the building was converted to lavatories and cloakrooms.
On June 8, 1915, the first commencement was held in the new auditorium. There were fourteen graduates; eight girls and six boys. Miss Anastasia Maloney read an essay on Pennsylvania’s Literature. (Miss Maloney later became the principal of the junior high school.) Dr. E. L. Kemp addressed the class. The president of the school board, P. J. McGinty presented members of the Class of 1915 with their diplomas.
At the beginning of the 1915-16 school year, there were 815 students assigned to this twenty-two classroom facility. Elsewhere in the Olyphant School District, there were 250 students at the Washington School in Fern Hill, 194 students at the Roosevelt School in Tiger Valley Fern Hill, 188 students at the Lincoln School in Grassy, 160 students at the Columbus School in Smoketown, and 100 students at the one-room schoolhouse in Marshwood. In addition, there were about 300 students at St. Patrick’s School, and 150 students at Holy Ghost School.