Opening and expansion of the Main Street high school

History of West Haven, Connecticut (1940)
PDF page 181
Source: https://archive.org/download/historyofwesthav00unse/historyofwesthav00unse.pdf#page=181

EDUCATION 
In the early days, each district was controlled by a district committee and 
was under the supervision of a board of school visitors. These school visitors, 
who were elected to the office, made periodical inspections of the schools, inves¬ 
tigated the work being done, and offered suggestions. 
In 1899, there were four school houses in the Union School District with 
1,055 pupils between 4 and 16 years of age. The other two West Haven Dis¬ 
tricts had one school house each, with a total of 411 pupils. 
In that year, the Union School District was reorganized under a board of 
education. Other school districts continued under supervision of the board of 
school visitors until 1926, when schools were consolidated, and supervision of 
all schools was transferred to the board of education. A legislative act of 1927 
provided that the West Haven Board of Education have six members. 
The four-room Campbell Avenue School, built about 1893, in the section 
then the Northern School District, is the last of West Haven’s wooden school 
buildings. For man)' years before the erection of this structure, a small, crude 
schoolhouse stood on the site. A two-room school also was conducted on Smith 
Place. 
High School, 
A two-year course of instruction in high school subjects was first given in 
1899 in the old wooden Union School building. The first class of five pupils 
occupied a room together with the eighth grade. When the Union School, a two- 
story brick building with a tower, was erected on Center Street in 1890, the high 
school pupils were transferred to that building. 
There was no high school graduation in 1896, as the course was changed 
to three years. In 1909, a fourth year was added. 
For several years, the need for a new high school building was apparent, 
but it was not until November 11, 1925, that construction was started. 
The new high school, at 270 Main Street, opened in 1927 with an enroll¬ 
ment of 596 students. Registration increased to such an extent in the succeed¬ 
ing years that double sessions became necessary. During the past year, 1,832 
students were enrolled. The largest graduating class on record was the class of 
1934, numbering 327 students. 
Seth G. Flaley, a graduate of Bowdoin College, was named principal of the 
high school in September, 1919. Among his accomplishments was the adoption 
of an athletic program, which gained such" impetus by the year 1922 that the 
appointment of a physical director became a necessary step. Francis Fitzgerald 
was named to this post, which he still holds. 
Expansion and Improvements 
In June of 1898, Edgar C. Stiles of Hartford, a former principal of the 
Seymour schools, was made superintendent of West Haven schools. Mr. Stiles 
served the West Haven school system until his death in 1933. At that time Mr. 
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