With the name of Patrick Henry High School likely to be changed to Camden High School when the Minneapolis School Board votes on December 3, it seemed like a good time to look back on a little bit of the history of the school which is nearing 100 years old.
Construction started on the school in 1926, using what became the standard architectural plan of the time. The original part of the school was a four-story version of one wing of the Cleveland and Loring elementary schools which would be built a couple years later. It opened in 1927 as Patrick Henry Junior High School. There would be additions to the building in 1928, 1929, 1939 and 1956. The building has also undergone renovations in the past few years.
When Patrick Henry Junior High opened, one of the students attending that first year was Verna Bohanon who lived on 42nd and Emerson. I remember her telling me that her parents were concerned that instead of going to Hamilton School on 44th and Girard, she was now going to have to walk farther “out in the country” to go to the new Patrick Henry Junior High.
Patrick Henry remained a junior high until 1937 when it was decided that it would become a junior and senior high combination thus giving North Minneapolis a second high school. The first graduating class from Patrick Henry High School was in 1941. Up until then, all area high school students went to North High School. The students at Henry at the time were given a choice to either stay and graduate from the new Henry High or to go on to North High to graduate. One of the students who chose to stay at Henry was Barbara Meyer (later Barbra Meyer Bistodeau) who graduated in 1943. For over 16 years she wrote the Behind the Flagpole history column for the Camden Community News ending in December 2020. Henry would continue to be both a junior and senior high school for decades.
The first principal at Henry was William A. Porter. He believed that students should not only get a good education, but that they should also have fun doing so. He would make sure there were always fun activities for students. There would be pep rallies before sports games and dances after school every Friday night. There would also be movies in the auditorium during lunch time so students could eat their lunch while watching a movie. He served as the principal at Henry from 1927 to 1948. He wrote in the first Patrick Henry High School Orator yearbook in 1941:
“Youth and Our Democracy
The vigorous spirit of youth has established and maintained our democracy in the past and it is that same indomitable spirit that will defend and preserve our democracy for the future. Moreover, our young people are more awake to the difficulties to be overcome than many of the older folks realize. The obstacles that lie in their path are very real to them.
Educators observe very keenly the tendency of thoughtful youngsters to brush aside many of the non-essentials in their endeavor to forge ahead. On the other hand, youth work very assiduously on any problem that seems to be helping them in their educational progress. This eternal search for the essentials practiced by our young people is most encouraging and bids well for the future of our Democracy.” —Wm. A. Porter.
While the school name will change, I’m sure that our community high school will carry on its rich history into its next century.
Note – If you Google William A Porter+principal+Minneapolis, you can hear his actual address to the 25th Anniversary of Henry in 1952.