History

Students numbered just 13 in the three highest grades as of 1869, with Samuel Transeau serving as the principal. Classes were held in one small room on West Fourth Street between Hepburn and Elmira streets.

The first building was constructed in 1877 at the southeast corner of West Third and Walnut Streets, accommodating 250 students on the second and third floors and providing six elementary classrooms on the first floor. The Class of 1888 consisted of 160 pupils; by 1900 the high school had eleven teachers and 370 students. At the turn of the century, four courses of study were available: classical, Latin-scientific, English-scientific and commercial, this last department being housed in the Washington Elementary School. The courses of study included such subjects as Greek, rhetoric, declamation, essays and orations. By 1923, the graduation class numbered 212 pupils.

A fire on Saturday morning, April 4, 1914, completely destroyed the Williamsport High School building and all school records. A new high school building was already under construction at the corner of West Third and Susquehanna streets. The Class of 1914 was graduated in this still unfinished structure. A new wing and a gymnasium, which was built on the south side of West Third Street.

The school colors date back at least to 1895, when The Cherry and White, the school's magazine, first appeared. The earliest available football statistics are for the 1897 season, in which the team showed a 4-2-2 record. La Memoire originated in 1920; before that time a special edition of The Cherry and White had served annually in place of a yearbook. Athletic teams have been known as the Wolverines, the Black Shirts, the Billtowners and, since the mid-1930's, the Millionaires. This current designation echoes the name of a local baseball team of 1890, in the Tri-State League, and undoubtedly refers to Williamsport's days as "the lumber capital of the world" and to the stately homes along "Millionaires' Row" on West Fourth Street.

Class of: 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979