Demolished Junior High in Chattanooga
East Side Junior High School, Chattanooga Tennessee
The national junior high school movement was only seven years old when Charles H. Winder, superintendent of the Chattanooga schools, convinced the city to construct East Side Junior High based on the six-three-three grade division. Designed by architect Clarence T. Jones, East Side was conceived to serve as both a junior high school and as a community center open to the neighborhood in the evenings and on weekends.
The junior high school concept was designed to bridge the gap between elementary school and high school. Junior high school provided the students with choices in their studies and with better guidance. The national junior high school movement began around 1910, although there were earlier examples of the six-three-three grade divisions around the country. East Side Junior High School, the first institution of its kind south of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, opened on September 9th, 1917, and was dedicated on September 30th, 1917. Dr. P. P. Claxton, the U.S. Commissioner of Education (1911-1921), was the guest speaker during the dedication ceremony. Claxton, a southern educator, played an important role in the development of public school legislation in Tennessee. He served as director of the Southern Education Board Bureau of Investigation located in Knoxville, helped to organize the first "Summer School of the South" in 1902, and was head of the Department of Education at the University of Tennessee. Claxton assisted in lobbying for every major education bill in Tennessee in 1907, 1909, and 1911. A portion of Claxton's dedication speech dealt with the growth of education in Tennessee prior to the opening of East Side Junior High School.
In 1887 Tennessee had only four public high schools with courses of studies approved by the state universities. In 1899 the County High School Law was passed enabling the county courts to levy special taxes for the purpose of establishing and maintaining one or more high schools in each county. The General Education Bill which unified Tennessee's public school system was enacted in 1909. This law created a General Education Fund of which 8% was to be used for high schools. The General Education bill also required that all counties maintain at least one high school. It was not until 1921 that Tennessee passed an education bill requiring all counties to establish and maintain one or more first-class (four-year high schools. The junior high school system was approved by state law in 1923. The success of East Side Junior High School may have been a key factor in the passing of a state law enabling counties to establish junior high schools.
East Side Junior High School was used continuously as a junior high school since it was built and played a significant role in the lives of many Chattanoogans and their city. East Side Junior High also pioneered the practice of the school "Safety Patrol". In 1931, Main Street, on which the school was located, was changed from brick and cobblestone to asphalt. U.S. Highway 41 was routed to this street, resulting in an increase of traffic. Mr. F. L. Tallent, principal, with the help of the Chattanooga Police Department and the Chattanooga Automobile Club, organized the first school safety patrol.
East Side Junior High School was important both to the development of the junior high school movement in Chattanooga and the state of Tennessee. After the success of East Side, the City of Chattanooga built two other junior high schools by 1926 and had plans to build a third. Six years after East Side Junior High School opened, the State of Tennessee passed major legislation approving the junior high school system.
The school was closed torn down sometime in the late 1990s. An elementary school was built on the site.
The former students of the school have an active Facebook Group that you can join if you are a former student or teacher.
Building Description
Situated in the heart of the Ridgedale community in Chattanooga, Tennessee, East Side Junior High School was located on the corner of Main and Fourth Streets and was a fine example of early twentieth century school architecture. The three-story, red brick with limestone trim school was built in five construction phases with the major portion constructed in 1917 and additions built in 1921, 1926, 1939, and 1958.
Constructed in 1917, the main or north facade of East Side Junior High School is three stories high (two stories on a raised basement). The north facade is symmetrically designed with two bays of three window units flanking a center entrance and terminating into a projected three-story masonry facade. A corbeled brick watertable separates the ground floor from the main floor. A center entrance is located at the top of a flight of stone stairs and enters into the main floor. The recessed entryway has a large round-arched limestone classical door surround with brackets, and quoins. The double-leaf entry doors are flanked by half-height, eight light sidelights and are surmounted by a blind transom. Originally a secondary entrance was located under the stairs, but the arched entrances on both the east and west sides of the stairs have been bricked shut. Stone quoins flank the paired windows above the entrance. Two bays, of three windows with continuous sills and lintels on each floor, flank the entrance. The two end bays of the main facade project out northward from the main wall and are of solid brick accentuated by contrasting bands of colored masonry forming an enclosure to a series of decorative diamond patterns. Stone quoins intersect the corners on the upper two floors of the structure. A corbeled brick string course delineates the ground floor of the building from the first story. A projecting cornice and limestone-capped parapet top the building. A stone tablet inscribed with "East Side Junior High School" is located under the stepped parapet and above the center entrance. Alterations to the main facade of the school include the bricking up of the ground floor entryways and replacing the original wood windows with aluminum awning units.
The evolution of the school's growth can be seen on both the east and west facades. The northernmost section of the east and west facades are a part of the original 1917 school and are identical. The symmetrical facades contain a "center" entrance flanked by a single bay of five windows. The round-arched entrances have limestone keystones. Located over the top of each door is an open book of carved stone. Above each entrance is a large stairwell window with a limestone surround with quoins. Limestone quoins mark the corners of the original building. The accentuated limestone coping, lintels and sills, quoins, roofline parapet, and stacked symmetrical window units continue throughout the building.
The west facade of the school has two additions added to the south end of the original building. Built in 1921 the Library Extension provided space for a library on the ground floor and two additional classrooms on the upper two floors. This center portion of the west facade is distinguishable from the other additions by the limestone quoins located on each end of the addition. Window treatment of the 1921 addition is similar to the 1917 building with two bays of four windows on each floor with a continuous limestone lintel and sill. At the southernmost end of the west facade is the 1939 Domestic Arts and Study Hall Extension. The domestic science department was placed on the ground level and space for classrooms and a study hall on the second and third floors. The facade treatment on this addition is similar to the original with two bays of five windows each with continuous limestone sills and lintels on the second and third stories. The windows on the first story do not have a continuous lintel. Windows in the 1939 addition are double-hung.
The east facade does not extend as far south as the west facade and contains only one major addition, the Manual Arts Extension built in 1926. It includes a one-story entry addition that extends east from the main building along with an extension to the second and third stories providing space for two additional classrooms on each floor. The single-story entrance addition consists of a round-arched limestone entry surround on the north facade similar to the surround of the main entrance, although much simpler in design. A stone tablet inscribed with "Industrial Arts 1926" and a stepped parapet are located over the recessed doorway. The small entry extension contains one classroom and has five windows on the east facade. The addition on the upper floors is identical to the 1921 Library Extension on the west facade with two bays each of four windows with continuous sills and lintels. Alterations on the east side include a covered walkway over the 1917 entry that leads to the community school building on an adjacent lot.
The south or rear elevation of the school is plain in treatment; the 1926 addition is windowless, the 1939 addition has two windows on the ground floor, one on the second, and four on the third with no apparent thought to symmetry. The original rear auditorium windows have been bricked shut. In 1958 a one-story cafeteria was added to the rear of the school and is completely modern in appearance. However, it is, for the most part, a free-standing building with the only connection occurring on the north side of the cafeteria from the 1939 addition through a hallway that runs along the south wall of the auditorium.
The interior of this finely crafted educational facility is comprised of plaster walls, terrazzo and hardwood floors, and brass hardware trim. The interior still retains its original floor plan with the majority of the corridors double-loaded with a variety of classrooms. The door frames into the original classrooms are i6 inches deep. The main stairways in the 1917 portion of the school are open and have hardwood handrails with knobs at strategic points to prevent student sliding. The auditorium, located in the center of the 1917 school on the second and third floors, retains its original hardwood floors and built-in wooden auditorium seats which are bolted to the floor. Each row of seats has one of three types of decorative end panels. The auditorium also retains many of the original light fixtures.
The original gymnasium, located on the ground floor at the rear of the school is virtually intact. The small gymnasium has a bank of concrete bleachers on the east side. The floor of the gymnasium was raised one foot from its original height to prevent warping from a creek that runs underneath it. The original windows have been blocked shut.
Few alterations have occurred within the classrooms, however, the office area was modernized with wood panel boards. Although the principal's office has been modernized, the original 1917 I.B.M. clock (Model Number 25-7) that regulates the bells is still in operation.
Alterations to the interior of the school include lowered ceiling heights and the replacement of the original doors with fireproof doors to meet the fire codes.
As mentioned above, the building was torn down sometime in the late 1990s.
