Being semi laid up for the moment, I’vebeen digging around for blogging materials.As I browsed through our photos it occurred to me that, from the 9ththrough the 12th grade, I’d attended an historic old-fashionedcollege preparatory school that had been around for more than 100 years. There aren’t very many of these ‘prep’schools remaining in business in the USA…and that’s too bad.
Yes…This is my senior year prep schoolgraduation photo from DeVeaux! Laurie thinks that I looked like a young Clark Kent…akaSuperman. I do know that I was about 6’1”, weighed in at around 205, (in decent shape from football, wrestling andtrack), and I still had a full head of hair! Man 'o man, thosedays are gonefor sure!
The picture above isfrom about 1961 and I copied itfrom my Senior Yearbook. It shows the three interconnected primary buildingsat DeVeaux School, a Diocesan School of the Episcopal Diocese of Western NewYork.
The campus was deeded by Judge SamuelDeVeaux in the mid 1850’s and it was originally operated by the Episcopal Churchas “The DeVeaux College for Orphans and Destitute Children”. From the 1870’s until 1950, course workincluded mandatory military training with cadets dressed in uniform in thetradition of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
This photo was taken from about the sameangle as the previous picture. Laurietook this photo when she and I visited the then deserted campus back in1980. At this point, the property wasunder the ownership of Niagara University and it was already in a sad state ofneglect.
More on Judge Samuel DeVeaux… He was bornin New York City in 1789. When he was15, he went to work for a Land Office in Canandaigua NY and he also clerked ina local store. At 19 he moved to theNiagara Frontier and was appointed Commissary at Fort Niagara and later on hewas the Postmaster for Leroy NY. Hemarried a Canadian woman right in the middle of the War of 1812. After his first wife died, the judge marriedher sister, ran a store near the Niagara River and he acquired several largeparcels of land. He went on to serve asschool commissioner, Justice of the Peace, as a member of the Board ofDirectors for the International Suspension Bridge and as a key investor in theLockport and Niagara Railroad.
When Judge DeVeaux died in 1852, he lefta portion of his estate to the benefit of Niagara Falls and to the EpiscopalChurch to establish “DeVeaux College”.
This is the first of the primarybuildings shown in the preceding photos.Van Rensselaer Hall was dedicated in 1857…and as you can see, it was animpressive structure for the time! Iattended classes in this building and the school’s offices were centeredhere. The infirmary was also located onthe third floor. This classic buildinghas been torn down. Laurie and I tookthis photo in 1980.
The infirmary…ahhh…memories! At one point, I got sick and whatever it wassettled in my shoulders. Between thepain and a very high fever, the school administration decided that I might havepolio. They called an ambulance and 2poor EMT’s had to carry me down from the 3rd floor! Prior to my current stay in the hospital forhip surgery, this was the only time that I ever spend a night in ahospital. The ambulance ride with sirensblaring was such an adrenaline ‘kick’ that I felt much better on arrival at thehospital…
This photo, also from our 1980 trip,shows Ambrose Chapel and Monro Hall, (1894) and Patterson Hall…the latterreally an 1866 extension of Van Rensselaer Hall. All of these structures have also sadlyfallen to the wrecking ball!
Dining at the school was an interestingexperience… I think that the dining room was in Patterson Hall. In any case, the rule was that the first tofinish his meal was the first to get seconds!There was never enough food on the table, (family style), for everyoneto have a second helping… I became a very fast eater! We couldn’t pick up fried chicken to eat it.I gotso I could strip all of the meat from a chicken breast with a knife and forkand then consume it in just a couple of minutes…
This view of the campus is from my 1961Yearbook. The building on the left isone end of Schoellkopf Hall, the dormitory for the boys boarding atDeVeaux. You can see Van Rensselaer Hallacross the square to the right… Shoellkopf Hall is still standing.
This is our photo of Schoellkopf Hallfrom 1980. During my senior year I was adormitory Prefect, responsible for the students on half of a floor. My room was the first window on the extendedportion of the building on the third floor.Prefects had rooms to themselves but most of the boarding studentsdoubled up. The building housed 48rooms. There was a student lounge in thebasem*nt with a TV. As you might imaginein the late 50’s and early 60’s, our favorite TV show was American Bandstand…asgirls were a bit hard to come by at school!
I don’t know when this very depressingphoto of Schoellkopf Hall was taken… The building is one of the few stillstanding on the DeVeaux Campus. It wasbuilt in 1926.
My graduating class consisted of 27boarding and day students. I’ve losttouch with the entire group…with my last contact being in the early2000’s. There never was an alumniassociation of any significance…
The members of my graduating class wereas follows: Donald Phillip Alderman (Lewiston NY); Douglas Beale (Orchard NY);John Jeffery Bingenheimer (Lewiston Heights NY); Thomas Hewitt Combs (BataviaNY); William Edward Dunn Jr. (Lewiston NY); Edward Harold Fairchild (BradfordPA); Bruce Addison Penner (Oneida NY); Paul Henry Gross (Sanborn NY); ThomasCurry Kirkpatrick (Lewiston, NY); Jere Alan Krieg (Grosse Pointe MI); RobertCharles Kulak (Sanborn NY); Allan Chauncey Lyhford, Jr. (Mayville NY); StanleyBarron Mattison (Arlington VA); Robert John McGovern (Lewiston NY); John ClarkeNewman (Lewiston NY); Richard Wilson Orser (Bay Village OH); Thomas FrederickPalmer (Ogdensburg NY); Eric Theodore Popp (Niagara Falls NY); Robert WolfeQuine (Akron OH); Thomas Edward Reid (Niagara Falls NY); Walter Brayton Rogers,Jr. (Pittsburgh PA); Gary Howard Scott (Niagara Falls NY); Timothy NoelSouthwick (Jackson MI); John Kay Strickland, Jr. (Lewiston NY); John FrederickWildanger (Flint MI); Jonathon Jarvis Woolverton (Niagara Falls NY). I graduated under thename of David Jeffrey M.Thomson, as I wasusing my stepfather’s last name.
I lifted this photo from theInternet. It’s the old gym orauditorium. We held various events inthis building, including the rather rare co-ed dances. You can see the old power plant just to theleft of the auditorium.
We could go off campus on the weekends…There was one year when I went to the movies as many as 4 times perweekend! Friday night, Saturday matinee,Saturday night and then a Sunday matinee… I fell ‘in love with Doris Day,Sandra Dee, Annette Funicello, Debbie Reynolds, Ann Margaret and a bevy ofothers. We watched some TV, visitedNiagara Falls itself, played sports, etc…and we studied too!
This photo was taken from myyearbook. It shows the new gym and poolas well as one of the faculty homes. The car in the photo looks like a Hillman…could have beenAlec Pudwell’s. He was the school Chaplin.
Sports… Yes, we had lots to choose from.(Soccer, Football, Wrestling, Swimming, Basketball, Tennis, Track, CrossCountry, Baseball and Golf) I lettered in Track and Football. Due to the size of the school, we played 6-manFootball. Primary opponents weregenerally other private or small public schools in upper New York Statesuch as Park, Pebble Hill, Harley, Nichols,Ridley, Allendale and Hillfield.
This photo shows the large expanse ofland around the school. The propertybutted up to the Niagara escarpment and the Whirlpool Park to the right of thispicture. Originally the schoolcontrolled over 300 acres but the campus was eventually whittled down to 51acres.
As with many college preparatory schools,DeVeaux fell on hard times as public schools improved. I graduated in 1961, the Episcopal Dioceseceased operations at the school and in 1971, it sought another organization toaccept the task of taking care of the historic structures. At one time or another, Niagara County,Niagara Falls, Niagara University, the Board of Cooperative EducationalServices and the Niagara County Community College have owned or leased theproperty.
This is the oldest structure stillstanding in the DeVeaux School Historic District. This brick barn or carriage house was builtin 1863 and there are stories that it may have served as part of theunderground railway for runaway slaves.Recent pressure has forced the state to cover the roof with a plasticcovering to prevent further deterioration.
In 2000, the state of New York purchasedthe campus and vowed to transform the 51 acre property into “DeVeaux WoodsState Park”. The property includes 5acres of rare old growth forest…with some trees over 255 years old. Unfortunately, most of the old historicbuildings have been torn down and very little is left to mark what was once avibrant institution for young men. Ilearned to study here, to win here, to accept responsibility and takeaccountability here. The school is gone,but the memories hold strong. This was thestart I needed to be able to succeed in life,the business world and eventually to be able toretirecomfortably here in East Tennessee.
Thanks to www.leroypennysavernews.com and Lynne Belluscio for much of the background information in this blog.
Just click on any of the photos toenlarge them…
Thanks for stopping by for this littlehistorical venture down my memory lane!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
