Morris tribune., 1914-09-04
ELECTION TO PICK
HIGH SCHOOL SITE
TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY
SEPT. 16.
School Board Asks that Auth
ority Be Granted Them to
Select School Site, and will
then Select the Site which the
People Choose.

The school board has put in great
deal of time looking into the matter
of site for the new high school with
a view to saving the district as much
money as possible, also to meet GER
tain special conditions that obtain in
the district and especially to select
site in accordance with the wishes of
a majority of the patrons of the
schools.
The board now have some PROPOSE
tions ready to submit to the voters
and special election will be held at
the Central school Wednesday, Sept.
10. from 6 80 until s 80 in the even
ing for the purpose of voting author
ity to the school board to select a
school site. At the same time a
preferential election will be held to
determine which school site the maj.
ority prefers, so that the board may
make the designation in accordance
with the wishes of the majority.
The two sites to be voted on are
the city park on Seventh street and
the plot of ground offered by L. C.
Spooner at the easterly end of Sixth
street.
1t may perhaps be suggested that
neither of these sites is desirable,
but the board has found that all other
sites suggested are impracticable
for one reason or another.
Take the present high school site. -
beautiful new high school building
could be built on the present site of
the Lohgfellow school, but to do so
would give the west side of the. city
ean excess of school room while the
east side had a dearth. The present
grade building on the east side will
soon have to be replaced by more
modern building, SO it is planned to
house the east side grades in the new
high school on the east side and use
the present high school for the grade
building of the west side.
The Central School site. Having
determined that the requirements of
the district necessitate the building
of the new high school on the east
side, the site heretofore most often
suggested on the east side has been
the Central school site. Here the
district already owns three lots and
the city two. The rules of the high
school board require that the high
school site shall include a whole
block, and SO it would be necessary
for the district to buy the balance of
the block from the private owners and
remove the residences now there.
Accordingly the board ascertained
the price at which each owner would
sell, and found that the gross cost of
acquiring the balance of this block
would be about $4,000. If between
: So, 900 and Sd, 600 could be realized
from the houses. this would leave the
net cost to the district between $14,.
900 and SIS. 600. The board felt that
this sum was SIS. 900 to Sc, 900 more
that the property was worth, and SO
abandoned the idea of building on the
Central school site.
Last year the board began consider
ering placing the new high school on
the cityYpark site. This park was
given by the Great Northern railroad
company with the condition that it
should always be used for park pur-
poses; butthe railroad authorities have
given their4consent to its use for a
high scholastic. The city commission
has agreed to give the site to the
schoolidistrict on condition that the
school district pay the expense of the
sewer and sidewalk amounting to
about $500. This site is located two
blocks east from Atlantic avenue
on Seventh street.
The other site is that offered by L.
C. Spooner at the easterly end of
; Sixth street. This land is offered to
the school district free of charge, tho
there will be some expense for side
walk and sewer.
These then are the two sites with
which voters should familiarize them
selves before the preferential elec-
tion Wednesday. evening. Every
voter should vote Eyes on the pro-
position to grant the board authority
TO designate site. and then vote
j bis choicesof site. The board will
then make the cfaciaI designation in
accordanee with the wishes of the
1mHjority.