By Scott Wilson
On June 22, 1876, 150 summers ago, Omaha High School (now Central High School) graduated its first 11 graduates, nine girls and two boys. The original red brick OHS building with its beautiful tower opened on Capitol Hill in the fall of 1872 with just 47 students, Principal John H. Kellom who also taught classes, and two teachers. The two teachers earned about $750 and $700 respectively. Courses included Math, English, Philosophy, Greek, German, and Latin. The enrollment of the high school never got above 70 students for the next several years. According to later principal and historian J.G. Masters, “the meaning of High School had not entered deeply into the public consciousness.” High School enrollment was not mandatory. In short, it was a bit of a luxury to attend school past the eighth grade in those days.
OHS originally conceived of both a four-year diploma and five-year diploma program but scrapped the five-year program shortly afterwards. The students who would have been in the 1877 class were folded into the 1876 class and there were no 1877 graduates. Several students who also started with the class in 1872 did not end up finishing school. This shuffling around of classes did not stop these students from bonding with each other, however. Hijinks by the students included throwing a dummy off the tower to scare the principal and greasing the blackboard.
By the spring of 1876, WH Merritt of Boston had taken over as principal and there were now 11 candidates for graduation. On June 22, 1876, these 11 students met at the school auditorium on the third floor of the high school building for a 7:30pm commencement ceremony that was very well attended. Horse-drawn carriages lined streets outside the school, and flowers and plants crowded the stage of the auditorium. Class rings were designed with an enamel “OHS 76” on them. Each graduate read a personal essay, musical pieces played throughout, and finally diplomas were handed out. They finished with the 11 classmates singing a custom school song written by their valedictorian, which we still have in the archives! One account had the ceremony lasting past midnight!
Who were these first “Eagles” (the mascot would not be adopted until 1926, however) of 1876? Let’s meet them.
Stacia Crowley: Class Valedictorian. By all accounts, she was a supremely talented student. Crowley wrote the school song and designed the class ring. She taught in English at OHS until 1894, and then at Chicago’s McKinley High School for many years following. She died in 1922.
Henry C. Curry: An African American young man who went on to own a barber shop at 28th and Douglas. He lived in Omaha for many years.
Blanche L. Deuel: She was a talented pianist and skilled in German. Blanche sadly was stricken by an illness in her lungs and died in 1877 at just 18 years old. Her entire 1876 class mourned her. Stacia Crowley read a poem she wrote in her honor at the next Alumni Association meeting.
Bertha M. Isaacs McConnell: Her dad Nicholas Isaacs of the UP was present at the driving of the golden spike in 1869. Bertha married Fred McConnell and their son Fred, Jr was in the OHS Class of 1909. Bertha passed away in Pasadena, CA in 1945 at the age of 87.
Addie H. Gladstone Gross: Addie was an OPS teacher. She married David Gross in 1891, and their daughter Irma was in the OHS Class of 1910. She kept a framed photo of the Class of 1876 near her framed 1876 diploma on the wall of her Omaha home until she passed away in 1921.
Ida M. Goodman: Ida taught elementary school in OPS for almost 40 years until retiring in 1918. She died in 1931 in Omaha.
Esther Jacobs Rosenberg: Esther taught in OPS and then in Chicago. She spoke proudly with The Register in March 1942 about her experience in the first class. She was the last original graduate to die at the age of 89 in 1949. (Photo Credit to the 1941 Omaha World Herald)
Nelia Lehmer Carrier: Nelia married Richard Carrier, and she lived in Omaha until her passing in 1936 at the age of 78.
Margaret “Maggie” McCague Gordon: Maggie was the daughter of local minster Thomas McCague, and she later married Reverend Al Gordon. They lived in Nebraska until her passing in 1934.
Alfred F Ramsay: One of the two young men in the class. Alfred worked for Rees Printing in Omaha for many years. He eventually married and had six children. Alfred died in Oregon in 1913.
Frances “Fannie” E. Wilson Woodbridge: Fannie’s 10-page, hand-written account of her years at OHS are still preserved in the Central HS archives! She married Sands Woodbridge, the first editor of The Omaha World Herald and died in 1939.
