washington township high school auditorium

Mothers sewed costumes and faculty built sets, while rehearsals went on for days. The production was often written by grade school teachers, the chubbiest boy in school reigned as Santa Claus. By afternoon's end we were so tired that, long before the days of lip-synching to recordings, we mouthed the words on stage. Music director, Clark Haines, now a revered Miami Valley music educator, led mass choirs singing, from memory, all the stanzas of familiar carols. When I was attending elementary school on West Franklin School, now Magsig Middle School, classes were dismissed and we were bused to the hall to rehearse for entire afternoons. Next to high school commencements held in the hall (the township schools had no auditoriums), Christmas programs attracted the largest crowds of doting parents, as school children presented the annual musical play. As a child I saw two memorable plays, Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ten Nights in a Bar Room, performed in the hall. Through the years the building became a centerpiece for school activities, including junior and senior class plays, and operettas each spring.

Enos Doolittle, a Yankee peddler, operated a stone tavern and stagecoach stop in 1832, which became one of the finest of its kind west of the Alleghenies.īy 1908, township trustees razed the dilapidated two-story stone tavern to build the hall for the community. Since the founding of the community, villagers and township residents alike have congregated at this place on North Main Street to enjoy the culture of the day.Īs children we learned about the site where a legendary stone inn once stood.

The following is an excerpt from 'Township Hall' written by Celia Elliott in A Sense of Community.Ĭhristmas memories and Old Township Hall are bound together for me like ribbons tied on packages under the tree, as joys of the season are rekindled. A Celebration of 200 years of Education in Washington Township - 4th installment

Washington township high school auditorium