Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-05

of ceramic ornament. the ancient art of
terra Gotta, had to lend Its graces to the
The lot on which the schoolhouse is
erected contains l5oo0 Sadare ten5 ana Is
light air and drainage. Under one roof
there are essentially two buildings, with
boys and for girls. accommodating, in ALL
about 900 pupils. and orisinally calculated
for Tie s 81 nf the rs
school district The house can easily be
filled, even al this day, By children within
'" The budins is i4s feet Ions and 70 feet
wide, the walls are n me s aye 90 iee s
"a fes so9 for he central part while the TOP
Of the bell towers is il2 feet high above the
southwest corner of the huildins.
Difficulty was encountered in Sc
curing the site which belonged to
minor heirs. and which was ultimately
bought in a auction for $20,4740i.
Construction was begun in 1864 and 1t
was completed in 1862 at building
cost of $187.2297l 1t was dedicated
Saturday, october 2, 1859.
THE Franklin Building was the sec
l. ond of the then modern school
buildings to be erected under new
building plan, and which marks
period In local school history The
Civil War had played havoc with every
thing. Many of the schoolrooms we're
taken over by the Federal Government
for hospital and other uses, and the
school trustees were continually being
kept on the Jump in finding new quar-
tiers which would serve to some extent
the purpose for which they were to be
nut. In this connection the trustees
in their report for 1863 have this to
say.
In the hrst district the suhboard has
been Sreatly embarrassed in it's operations
by the loss Of several Of the schoolroomS
formerly nSeo. The various churches hav-
ing been taken possession of by the military
authorities for hospitals. the schools were
obsed for some months to vac a,t,r,, Union ,n
the basement of that church. The con
venent and suitable room. occupied by the
Building having been taken by the War De
partment for a Sursical museum ehortS
made to obtain d Rsrmss d1 F 70 kim
Sauare Although the earnest recommends :
ton OF this project was mace by the com
Freneh ESQ. who taxes lively interest II
our schools. and the PRESIDENT OF tne
United states fsye eS snd It.
Due to this unfortunate, but at this
time unavoidable, condition the board
of trustees of the public schools en-
tered upon a program of erecting new
and adequate buildings for educational
purposes in the District, and IN this
thew had the enthusiastic and able as
sistance of Mayor Richard Wallach,
who had succeeded James G.. Berret as
mayor of the District on August 26,
1861, when Mayor Berret was under
temporary but apparently unjustifiable
suspicion of disloyalty. and who, on
September Ia, 1851 rendered his resig-
nation as a condition to being released
from Fort Lafayette, N. Y. Mr.. Wal
ZACH served as mayor until succeeded,
in 1853. by Sayles J. Bowen. and 1t was
as mark of respect to the former that
the Wallach School Building was
named In his honor Though the
Franklin Building was not completed
during Mayor Wallach's terms OF office.
the ground was purchased. the con-
tract let and the building almost COM
pleted during his administration. The
members OF the board of trustees and
the officers of the board then included
J. Ormond Wilson. Judson S. Brown,
A. K. Browne. A. E. Newton. George
B. Vashon. w r. Woodward George
F. Mcclellan George Mason William j
Wilson, j. c. Dulin w. B. Moore. N. "A,
West, j. w. Clark. w j. Murtagh. E.
Champlin and z. NJ. Lawrence. A, P.
Pardon was the secretary and John
Clagett Proctor Nst1 was the treasurer
j. Ormond Wilson. for whom the
Wilson Normal School was named
probably did more than any other per-
son in laying the foundation for the
public school system which the District
now enjoys. He early became MEM
Der of the board of trustees and in
1870 was rewarded by being named
superintendent of public schools. which
position he held for Is consecutive
years At the time of his death, April
2, 1911, The Star, IN part. said Of him
Mr. Wilson introduced industrial draw.
ing manual training, domestic economy and
military training, and was instrumental in
having those subjects adopted by many OF
the countrys schools. He. aided in the
establishment OF the normal school ana OF
the Industrial Home School
Under his direction exhibits we're, nre..
pared BY District school children and sent
IN the International exhibitions At Vienna
and Paris and elsewhere. Al each Of the
sxhthi,ions the work prepared by tine wash
inEfon students was awarded the medal OF
re1PfE vat