1920-1921

=1920-1921=

=Overview=

The 1920-1921 school year was marked by several additions to the school. The first school newspaper, //The Maroon and White//, began publication for the student body. Physical education classes moved into the gymnasium and the new tennis courts and athletic fields were completed. The school began Extension Work to get more involved in the greater Belleville community. Finally, several school records were set by the BTHS track team in their early meets. = = =**Faculty and Staff **=

Administration

 * Principal**- Henry Galen Schmidt
 * Assistant Principal**- J.H. Yarbrough (also English and Teacher Training)
 * Athletic Director**- F.J. Friedli (also Biology)

Faculty Statistics
Chemistry Teachers: 1 Home Economics Teachers: 2 Physics Teachers: 1 Art Teachers: 1 Mathematics Teachers: 2 Commercial Teachers: 5 Social Science Teachers: 2 Vocational Teachers: 4 Agriculture Teachers: 1 Physical Education Teachers: 1 Music Teachers: 2 Biology Teachers: 1

=Campus=

The BTHS campus consisted of three buildings in 1921:
 * **The School**- Later known as the Main Building (or M-Building), this was the three story structure where most academic classes were held.
 * **The Cafeteria**- Located behind the main school building (where the N-Building was eventually added), the Cafeteria was known for it's distinctive smokestack. This building also appears to house the shops classes.
 * **The Gymnasium**- Located to the right of the school building from West Main Street, the Gymnasium (later called the Girl's Gymnasium or G-Building) was the most recent addition to the campus. The two story gymnasium was designed to allow for free flow of light and air into the physical education classes. In 1920-1921, the tennis courts and athletic fields were completed.

=Departments =

The following are the academic departments listed in the 1920-1921 //Bellevinois//:

Chemistry Department
Chemistry was a course that was added in order to meet several practical needs. There were two types of chemistry offered at BTHS. General Chemistry was offered to boys and girls, and this course taught the fundamentals of traditional chemistry. Another course, Household Chemistry, was offered only to girls. This course taught girls how chemistry applies to cooking, cleaning, and dyeing. In 1920-1921, the Chemistry Department added a new notebook system and three new reference books for students to use when writing papers. Teacher: William H. Campbell

Department of Home Economics
The Department of Home Economics was divided into two parts: Domestic Science and Domestic Arts.

The Domestic Science coursework was open to both boys and girls, but the emphasis of the program was for young women. The department had a completely furnished four room apartment re-created on campus for students to practice their skills- "including laundry work." The Domestic Science curriculum was divided over four years. Year one focused on food preparation and cooking, year two was food service (where the girls took terms acting as hostesses in the furnished apartment dining room), year three was dietetics which focused on taking care of children and proper diet, and the final year focused on household management including budgeting, cleaning, and furnishing the apartment. From pictures, it appears that the Domestic Science classroom and apartment were located on the third floor of the Main Building. Teacher: Vera O. Gosset

Different from Domestic Science (which focused on the household), the Domestic Science Art Department (called Domestic Art for short) prepared students for careers in the working world. The two year course of study included an elementary sewing class that focused on fundamentals and advanced sewing which included clothing design, textiles, and clothing manufacturing. The classroom space included a sewing room, fitting room, and a pressing room. Teacher: Dorothy Dell

Physics Department
Physics was a one year course that was open to seniors only. It was designed to focus on the, "practical side of life." In 1920-1921, the school added a wireless set to the Physics Lab in order to further student interest in radio. Students conduct around 90 experiments per year in the Physics program. Teacher: John A. Karch

**Department of Arts and Crafts**
The art program was created to teach students both the skills and appreciation of art. The curriculum was divided into Arts and Crafts. Students in both programs took introductory Arts and Crafts. Art students also took Appreciation of Art and Art History. Design classes were connected with the Domestic Arts and Sciences curriculum while a special Teacher Training class in Art focused on "paper cutting and tearing, stick printing, paper contrsuction work, object drawing with pencil crayon, and paint, and and simple broblems in bookbinding..." Crafts courses included bookbinding, leatherworking, pottery, basket making, and enamelwork. The advanced art classes include pen and ink drawing, commercial art, and art appreciation. The Art Studio was located in a room with large windows and two skylights for natural lighting. Oil paintings surrounded the students on the walls. The Crafts classroom was located next door and included four tables and large bins for clay storage. A smaller workroom and the pottery kiln adjoined the two larger art rooms. Teacher: Frances Renchler

Mathematics Department
Considered to be the most rigorous and thought-provoking courses at BTHS, mathematics was seen as essential to creating well-rounded students. The mathematics course was divided into subjects that spanned four years. These included Algebra I* and II*, Geometry III* and IV*, Algebra V, Geometry VI, Trigonometry VII, and College Algebra VIII. Those courses marked with an asterisk (*) were required of all students and the rest of the electives were designed for students planning to attend a university (presumably the University of Illinois) to study engineering. Teachers: William H. Campbell (Algebra), E.G. Hexter

Commercial Department
The Commercial Department was designed to prepare students for immediate employment in Belleville, which was described as an, "industrial center", as well as for competition on the world stage where the war helped secure the United States a leading position. There were two courses of study in the Commercial Department- Bookkeeping and Stenography. Bookkeeping courses included Penmanship, Commercial Arithmetic, Accounting, Salesmanship, Commercial Law, and Advertising. The Stenography courses included Typing, Transcription, and Office Training (which taught filing, billing, and shipping). The focus of the Commercial Department was to prepare students to enter the business world where they were to, "wage the future commercial battles of the world for American manufacturers wtih training as good as, if not superior to, that of our foriegn competitors." Teachers: Grace Bertram, Theodosia Meng, Alfred C. Lippold, Dorothy Murray, Hortense Emunds

Department of Social Sciences
The Social Sciences courses were originally designed to be taken as individual units in any combination. However, the //Bellevinois// notes that, "the general recognition for the great movement for Americanization had led our Board of Education to fix the year given to study the History of the United States and Civics as a minimum required for graduation." The Social Science curriculum included Ancient and Medieval History (freshman year), Modern History (sophomore year), History of the United States and Civics (junior year), and Economics and Sociology (senior year). Teachers: Clara Stiegmeyer, Jessie McElwain (History and Civics)

Industrial Department
The Industrial Department is divided into three different courses of study: Wood Shops, Iron Shops, and Drafting. The Wood Shops were a four year course of study that included Woodwork I-IV which focused on both bench work and machine work. Products made in the Wooed Shops such as ironing boards, library tables, music cabinets, desks, etc. were sold to help fund the expenses of the department. The Iron Shops focus on metallurgy such as the tempering of steel, forging, and welding. The Drafting courses include Mechanical Drawing I and II, Engine Drawing, Machine Drawing, and Architectural Drawing. The department is making plans to add an Auto Shop for the next school year. Teachers: Russell M. Denney (Mechanical Drawing), Otto C. Druge (Wood Shops), Erwin L. Legried (Iron Shops), Ed S. Wright (Mining)

Agricultural Department
The Agricultural Department was divided into two main lines of coursework. General Agriculture was offered to give students a basic foundation to the principles of agriculture. The Animal Husbandry course was an elective that could be taken after the General Agriculture class. Students in this class were required to keep livestock at their homes as part of the coursework. Teacher: Homer M. Harper

Physical Education Department
The curriculum for physical education at BTHS had moved away from traditional drills and embraced the new research that showed that game play (with essential exercises included) would produce similar results in a shorter amount of time. Boys were required to take physical education for three days a week and girls were required to take two, "unless excused for definite reasons." The new gymnasium was the pride of the physical education department because is, "permits lights and air to enter from all sides. Here the students can play thier games and give vent to their enthusiasms without disturbing the rest of the student body." The gymnasim included dressing rooms and showers for boys and girls as well as the new athletic fields. Teacher: Walter Lorenzen

Department of Languages
The Department of Languages consisted of English, Latin, and Modern Languages.

The English Department ffaculty has committed itself to make the department, "strong, virile, worth while." The //Bellevinois// stresses that the goal of English is not to teach students how to write a book but rather how to read all different types of writing incuding magazines and advertisements with the goal of making them better citizens. In the 1921-1922 schiool year, the Board of Education purchased a motion picture machine, "by which the study of English is materially aided." Teachers: Ruth Twitchell, J.H. Yarbrough, Edith M. Waddock, Bessie Newlon

Latin was offered as a four year course of study with the intention of improving the English skills of students. It was strongly believed that, "A knowledge of Latin is indispensable to those desiring to take up a profession or to go to college." Students in first year Latin learned grammar and vocabulary. After the first year students read literature in Latin including "Caesar's Commentaries" (second year), "Cicero's Oration" (third year), and "Virgil's Aeneid" (fourth year). Card games and Latin songs help students with the development of vocabulary. Teacher: Jessie F. Miller

There were two offerings in Modern Language: French and Spanish. Both programs consist of a first (rhetoric and grammar) and second year (classic literature) of study. Despite the expectation that an interest in French would decline after the Great War, enrollment has been steady. Students in French classes are helping to translate the letter of French war orphans as part of their curriculum. As post-war trade with Latin America increased, the interest in Spanish did as well. The Spanish classes held the first ever departmental party when they had a Spanish celebration at the home of Miss Dorothy Stookey. The students ate Spanish food, sang Spanish songs, and played Spanish games. Teacher: Clara Keller

Department of Music
The Music Department included three courses of study. First was the piano department which offered courses over a four year period with estudents taking lessons one day per week. Second were the theoretical courses which included Theory and Harmony and the History of Music, as well as the choruses. Theoretical courses were awarded university credit. The Junior-Senior Chorus would perform an operetta for the public. The Orchestra was the final part of the Music Department. The orchestra icnluded violins, a coronet, a saxaphone, drums, two pianos, and an organ. The orchestra, along with the piano and choral students, would perfrom two recitals a year. Because music classes were not offered daily, they were awarded 1/5 credit for each semeseter. Teacher: Raymond Rapp (Piano and Chorus), Ludwig Carl (Music and Chorus)

**Biology Department**
The Biology Department offered three courses as students progressed through the coursework. Freshmen took Biology where they studied the science of living things and elementary biological systems. Botany, taken at the sophomore year, allowed students to study the different aspects of the plant world. Finally, upperclassmen took Zoology in order to understand the roots of human nature. According to the //Bellevinois//, "The great problems of human society, racial, sexual, industrial, and commercial, have thier basic foundations in the conditions that are fundamentally zoological, that is, dependent on the animal nature of man and having thier roots as far back in the soil of animal life which man is a part, even if he is the most recent and dominant of the process of evolution." The biology lab included a glass conservatory which housed an aquarium and germinating bins as well as stuffed birds and animals donated to the school. Teachers: F.J. Friedli

=Extension Work= Extension work were programs and opportunities that brought the high school and the community together. Three extension work programs were mentioned in the //Bellevinois//.

Mining Institute
The Mining Institute was to held prepare young men to take the exam to be mine managers or examiners. The class met on Tuesday and Fridays with an enrollment of 94 students. Courses included mining laws, mine management, mine gasses and explosive, ventilation, hoisting, first aid, methods of mining and mine mathematics. After the class meets from October to April, the advanced students sat for the exam. Instructor: Mr. Edward Wright- a local mine manager.

Community Service Institute
On the second Tuesday of the month, representatives from local churches, societies, and lodges met in the high school gymnasium to learn how to develop social leadership. Participants were taught how to organize games and social events for their members. An average meeting had about 150 participants.

Physical Institute
For teachers only, the Physical Institute was created by County Superintendent of Schools Mr. W.A.Hough to instruct teachers about gymnastics and how to teach gymnastics to pupils. The Institute met for two Saturdays a month with around one hundred teachers attending. Instructor: Miss Selma Heinemann

=Curriculum =

Literature (3/5 credit) Rhetoric (2/5 credit) Algebra General History Biology/Community Science Latin French Arts and Crafts Mechanical Drawing Shop Practice Home Economics Domestic Art Design (1/2 credit) Agriculture Bookkeeping Elementary Wholesale Business Penmanship (1/2 credit) Business Arithmetic (1/2 credit) Stenography Typing Piano (1/5 credit) Chorus (1/5 credit) Orchestra (1/5 credit) Gym (1/5 - 3/10 credit) || English Geometry Ancient History Physiography Home Nursing (1/2 credit) Latin French Arts and Crafts Mechanical Drawing Shop Practice Home Economics Textiles and Millinery (1/2 credit) Agriculture Bookkeeping Banking Corporate Accounting Stenography Transcription Business Practices Typing Commercial Geography (1/2 credit) Commercial Law (1/2 credit) Commercial Arithmetic (1/2 credit) Business Spelling (1/2 credit) Piano (1/5 credit) Chorus (1/5 credit) Orchestra (1/5 credit) Gym (1/5 - 3/10 credit) || English Algebra (Advanced) (1/2 credit) Geometry (Solid) (1/2 credit) Zoology Chemistry Latin Spanish Modern History Industrial History Arts and Crafts Mechanical Drawing Shop Practice Home Economics Agriculture Accountancy Salesmanship (1/2credit) Advertising (1/2 credit) Stenography Typing Auto Mechanics History of Music Piano (1/5 credit) Chorus (1/5 credit) Orchestra (1/5 credit) Gym (1/5 - 3/10 credit) || English American History Latin Spanish Trigonometry (1/2 credit) Physics Civics (1/2 credit) Mechanical Drawing Economics (1/2 credit) Sociology (1/2 credit) Theory & Harmony Astronomy (1/2 credit) Geology (1/2credit) State Course (1/2 credit) Psychology (1/2 credit) Shop Practice Stenography Typing Commercial Law (1/2 credit) Agriculture Arts and Crafts Piano (1/5 credit) Chorus (1/5 credit) Orchestra (1/5 credit) Gym (1/5 - 3/10 credit) ||
 * ===Freshman Courses=== || ===Sophomore Courses=== || ===Junior Courses=== || ===Senior Courses=== ||
 * English

=**Athletics **=

Football
The twenty-five member football team was plagued with injuries from the beginning of the season a cracked rib, a twisted shoulder, and a broken collarbone. The team played nine games and lost eight of these. Their only victory was in their first game against East St. Louis- a school record against a team that BTHS had never beaten before. Coached by Mr. Homer Harper.

Basketball
Like football, the basketball team had a poor showing in their regular season play, winning only 4 of 19 games. This included a loss to the Alumni Team made up of players from previous years. The team more than made up for regular season play with their second place victory in the intensely competitive Alton Tournament. A ten team intramural torunament was held by the coach in order to develop talent for the next school year. The team was coached by Mr. F.J. Friedli.

Baseball
The 1920 baseball team scored a winning season with eight wins and six losses. The team played local schools as well as the McKendree College team. The 1921 team only had one loss at the time of publication and had games scheduled against Scott Air Force Base and an Alumni team. Coached by Mr. F.J. Friedli.

Track
The track team set several school records in their events (note that the team had only been in existance since 1919). Members competed in the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, the half mile, one mile, the 50 yard hurdle, relay, high jump, discus, shot put, broad jump, and pole valut (1921). The team competed in two local meets and as well as the Southern Illinois Interscholastic Meet and the Washington Universiry meet. Coached by Mr. Walter Lorenzen.

Tennis
The first tennis courts were opened in the 1920-1921 school year. Originally set up as signles' courts, the public demand for more opportunity to participate led to an additional doubles' court being added. An initial tennis tournament was held for boys, girls, teachers, and alumni to particiapte. No formal tennis team was created. = = =**Activities **=

Township High School Literary Society
A combination of the Irving and Philomathian Societies, the Literary society met every Wednesday to perform recitations, plays, and musical numbers. All students who did not join other societies at BTHS were required to join the Literary Society which made it the largest society at the school. Sponsors: Mr. Yarburough, Miss Pessel

Ag Club
The Ag Club consisted of 26 members and was listed as the wealthiest club on campus. Their money was raised by holding a box social early in the year. The Ag Club used it's funds to purchase three Poland China pigs which were raised into hogs on campus. Sponsor: Mr. Homer Harper

Commercial Club
The Commercial Club was designed to address the problems of the business world. Members invited local businessmen to come and speak each month at club meetings. Sponsors: Mr. Lippold, Misses Murry, Bertram, Emunds, and Meng.

Home Economics Club
The purpose of the club was to stimulate an interest in homemaking. Members discussed topics in home economics and held a varity of social functions in order to study such meetings through experience. Sponsors: Misses Dell and Gossett

The Thalian Dramatic Club
The dramatic club is one of the more popular clubs around school despite the fact that it does not solicit members and is not advertised Members meet on teh fourth Wednesday each month to discuss and perfrom plays. The two plays performed this year were "Omlet" a parody of Hamlet and "Somebody's Stenographer" which was written by club members. Sponsor: Misses Twitchell and Newlon

Craftsmen's Club
Created for members of the shops classes, the club was designed to promote an interest in handiwork. Around 30 members belong. Sponsor: Professors Druge, Legried, and Denney

The Maroon and White
The very first edition of the student newspaper, //The Maroon and White//, was distributed on December 23, 1920 to subscribers in the student body. The Junior Class was responsible for the financing and running of the paper. It was noted that every Junior Class from 1921 on would assume responsibility for publication. The paper covered school news as well as athletics. Columns such as "Aunt Cynthia's Columns"- an advice column that answered, "questions of love, finance, health, beauty, family affairs, and social difficulties. Questions pertaining to studies - EXCLUDED." The paper also included serial stories such as "The Fateful Finger" that would be continued in future issues. The "censor and sponsor" was Principal Henry Galen Schmidt- listed by his official title of "Professor Schmidt".

Bellevinois
No information was provided about the school yearbook staff.