North Ward

North Ward

De Leon Junior High School


    North Ward was constructed about 1919  a little south of the 1902 building.  It  housed grades 1-8 for students living more or less north of the railroad tracks. 

     The principals at North Ward included two well known De Leon educators, O.H. Moore and Miss Della Wall.

     When the ward system ended in the early 50s, the building became the Junior High School housing the 6th, 7th and 8th grades.  In the early spring of 1958 the 5th graders (Class of 1965) were moved to the school after the old high school became unsafe. 

   Floyd Sorley served as principal until 1954 when James Perkins became principal.  He served as principal until the Junior High was shifted to the new wing of the High School and he became principal of both schools. 

   North Ward was torn down about 1965.  Perkins Middle School is located approximately on the site of North Ward.

1926 North Ward first grade

1927 North Ward second and third grades

1924 North Ward Students.

Bernice Kiker’s class about 1938.  Miss Kiker (back right) taught in De Leon and Dublin before moving to Austin.  Kiker Elementary School in Austin is named for her. Front Row (L-R) Dugene ?, Vernon Duke, Herbert Davenport, J.D. Roach, Louise Holiman, Jerry Pierce, Doris Underhill, ?.  Middle:  ?, ?,  Willie Mae Wisdom, Louis  Rich, Jimmie Owens, ?.  Back: Irene Slaughter, ?, Lela Dendy, Louise Pell, ?, Richard ?, L.S. Underhill, Clinton Rich, Willie Mae Richardson, ?,?, Mrs. Kiker.

1925 Students. O.H. Moore at rear.

1944-45  version of the Class of 1950

1937-38 Students.  C.G. Morton is the teacher.

1939-40 2nd Graders.  John Franklin Chupp is third from the left on the top row.  He is pictured here without his famous fleece lined aviator cap.  DHS Class of 1950

1945-46 Students.  Opal Nabors is the teacher.

1947 First Graders --  DHS Class of 1959.

The photo includes both North and South Ward students.  Front Row (L-R) Barbara Quinn, A.C. Goates, Carolyn Ann Achley, Billy Gene Cogburn, Helen Crownover, Glenda Ray Stanley, Linda Hammon Harold Skaggs.  Second:  Raymond Daniels, Walter Bob Loudermilk, Ely Wade, Carey Don Wilkerson, Billy Paul Stewart, Troy?. Third Row: Patricia Ann Donohue, Benny Morris, Jolene Bassett, Milton Spruill, Joy Wilkerson, James Hunt, Bobby Otwell, Fourth Row: Pricilla Ann Livingston, Joe ?, Bruce Mc Ginnis, Nelson Terry, Carolyn Kay Stephens, Ola Fae Sugart, Bobby Evans, Floyd Stokes, Back Row: Sharon Farrow, Elizabeth Hardin, Laquitta Schupp, Paul Shoemaker, Betty Louise Sadberry, David Nooncaster, Glen Bruton.

The same faculty in the photo on the left posing on the south side of North Ward probably on the same day since the clothing is the same.  Back Row (L-R): Ethel Jones, Gladys Short, Mabel High, Alice McCamey.  Front:  Mamie Smith, Lois Short, Claudia Hope, Fern High, O.H. Moore, Golden Jones.

North Ward faculty in 1923. (L-R) Grace Herring, Pearl Nance, Cleo Herring, O.H. Moore, Gladys Short, Maudeen Hampton.

North Ward faculty sometime in the early 1920s.  Front (L-R) Mamie Daniell Smith, Ethel Jones, Claudia Hope, Alice McCamey.  Back: Mabel High, Gladys Short, O.H.Moore, Fern High, Golden Jones Lois Short.

This lunch room was added to North Ward’s north side.  This obviously staged photo was made about 1959 when North Ward served as the Junior High School.  In front of the girl on the right is a table on which was stacked milk bottles, one plain and one chocolate.  Notice the bottles in each student’s hand even those that had not yet reached the milk table.

    North Ward, like its sister building South Ward were constructed to utilize coal from Thurber for heating.  The schools switched to natural gas in 1924 after lines were completed to De Leon.  The Thurber coal cost the school district about $1,000 per year while natural gas averaged only $35 per month or $140 for the year.  The chimneys were ultimately removed when a metal roof replaced the original.

NORTH WARD--DE LEON JUNIOR HIGH