Thursday, September 03, 2020

Elementary School Photos in Front of the Old High School

Two group pictures, taken by the Pascoe Gallery in the 1880s, are housed in the Schools Collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Students are posed in a group in front of the old Sandusky High School on Adams Street, before it was expanded in 1910. Notes on the photographs indicate that the students in each picture were taught by Miss Horn. Unfortunately, we do not know which Miss Horn was the teacher of these youngsters. There were three different teachers named Miss Horn, who were employed at different times by the Sandusky City School system. In 1886, Augusta and Clara Horn were both listed as teachers in the Sandusky City Directory. The 1908 Sandusky City Directory lists Augusta Horn and Stella Horn as school teachers. In this close up, in the middle of the front row, one young lady has her arm around her classmate.

Many of the students have quite serious facial expressions.


The students in this group picture appear to be from an early elementary grade level.

Miss Augusta Horn was associated with the Sandusky City Schools from 1881 to 1928. She taught at Osborne School, serving as the school’s principal for the last eight years of her lengthy career. After her death the Sandusky Star Journal featured a tribute to her in the November 22, 1938 issue. It read in part:

In giving 47 years to the teaching profession in our city, Miss Horn taught in the day when the teacher molded the life of her pupils and many men prominent in the civic life of our town have repeatedly said that they owe to her unfailing interest in them much of the success they now have achieved. 

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to learn more about the history of Sandusky City Schools, and its many teachers, administrators and students.

1 comment:

Ed Daniel said...

It is my understanding that in photos taken around the turn of the last century, the reason no one in the photos is smiling, and thier faces look so stern, is that during that time of photography the exposure time was so long that a person could not hold a smile long enough without moving his/her lips, thus spoiling the photo. It is interesting to speculate that probably most of the people in photos of that era were, in fact, happy and cheerful people, altho there is no way of knowing that, from their photo.