Our Sophomore Year

“The enrollment in the fall of 1962 was 2,059…The campaign for a new south wing had borne fruit, the entering student body were confronted with a noisy construction project that would result in more classrooms, laboratories and cafeteria space… Seventy percent of the Southwest parents belonged to the PTA… Helen Hayes and Maurice Evans took to the Southwest stage in February of 1963 to present selections from William Shakespeare… The school board voted to discontinue a student textbook exchange at Southwest. The enterprise had been instituted as a student economy measure, but competing book dealers contended that students were not mature enough to make business decisions, and that the exchange was morally and economically wrong… In the spring, Phil Manuel broke the national high school record in the pole vault… The literary societies held their annual, spirited contest... 20% of the student body belonged. Not everyone was eligible: a 3.0 average in English was required, as well as at least a 2.0 in all other subjects. However, every eligible applicant became a society member. Their activities were not confined to the spring of the year, many held dinners in the fall featuring serious initiation ceremonies; all adopted Christmas families and supported the school Carnival… The Ladies Home Journal named Southwest High School one of the country's 25 best college preparatory high schools. In reporting the honor, the Kansas City Star noted that Southwest occupied a 37-year-old building to which nothing much had been added since 1940. The Star went on to say: In fairness, it should be added that Southwest serves an area of unusual stability... There is an interesting permanence even to the faculty." It also reported that for the past ten years, 85-90% of Southwest's graduates had gone on to college.” – The Rise and Fall of Excellence (Edward T. Matheny, Jr.)

 

Our Junior Year

“The enrollment was 2,236 in the fall of 1963, the size of a small college... Many of the faculty were college caliber instructors, members of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary scholastic organization. It was a time when fewer than one-fourth of the nation's public-school teachers had postgraduate degrees… There was more room, the new wing was ready for occupancy. The PTA sponsored a housewarming… The Southwest cheerleaders had chalked up their fifth straight win in the SMU clinic in Dallas but there were still no bleachers on the Southwest field, where junior varsity football games were played before crowds of standees… The football team tied with three other teams for the Interscholastic League championship. The diluted triumph was welcome, it was the first football championship since 1951… Literary societies were so popular that two more clubs were formed, Aurora and Alethea. There were too many members for the traditional Sunday tea, and an after-school coke party in the new cafeteria was substituted. Contest victories were still the societies' prime objective, but a scarcity of judges required that each club submit only one entry in each of the five divisions, and the contest was shortened by holding orations in advance, with only the declamations presented the final evening.” - The Rise and Fall of Excellence (Edward T. Matheny, Jr.)

Our Senior Year

“The September enrollment of 2389 escalated to 2,405 in October… The football team won the Interscholastic League championship. This time it didn't have to share it. Dennis Rains and Pete Cortelyou made the all-city team… The space program was now well underway and the "Astronauts" played at the Christmas Dance… Students rode the train to Clinton, Missouri for a basketball game. A round-trip ticket cost $5.75… The June 1, 1965 Trail reported another triumph: Southwest was one of the ten high schools in the United States to receive a plaque given in recognition of marked excellence in secondary education by the Fisk Foundation. The school was chosen for superior educational advantages, proficiency in competitive athletics, balanced extracurricular activities and a high spirit throughout the student body… Southwest had two National Merit Scholars, Mike Colvin and Ken Krupsky, and 14 National Merit finalists in 1964-65… The drop-out rate was a modest 2%, mostly boys according to the principal… The graduating class of 605 was a record. It was the end of Southwest’s fourth decade.” - The Rise and Fall of Excellence (Edward T. Matheny, Jr.)

 

 The Kansas City Times, 05/18/65

 

The Kansas City Times, 04/28/65

 

The Kansas City Times, 04/07/65

 

The Kansas City Star, 03/06/65

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 02/21/65

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 01/27/65

 

The Kansas City Times, 10/31/64

 

The Kansas City Times, 10/24/64

 

The Kansas City Star, 09/23/64

 

 

The Kansas City Times, 08/29/64

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 05/01/64

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 04/26/64

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 04/24/64

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 02/14/64

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 02/26/64

 

 

The Kansas City Times, 10/12/63

 

 

  The Kansas City Star, 05/08/63

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 03/28/63

 

 

The Kansas City Star, 08/13/62

 

 

 

The Kansas City Times, 04/02/62

 

 

The Kansas City Times, 04/27/61

 

 

The Kansas City Times, 03/31/61

 

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Obelisk from the White House

by: Travis Meier, Matt Stewart

Posted: May 17, 2021 / 02:21 PM CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An obelisk of incredible historic significance stands unceremoniously under a tree outside an abandoned high school in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri.

It’s a slab of the White House more than 200-years-old. What was once a piece of the nation’s most revered government building is simply an unmarked pillar of gray, aging stonework.

Anne Kniggendorf, author of “Secret Kansas City,” explained how the slab got from Washington D.C. to KC nearly 70 years ago.

Southwest High School opened nearly 100 years ago and closed in 2016. However, she said the school is home to a lot of famous alumni, including the founders of H&R Block and rap artist Tech N9ne.

“One of the guys was friends with President Truman: Henry Talge,” Kniggendorf told WDAF. “When Truman remodeled the White House, he started handing out bits and pieces of the parts that he tore down.”

Talge has been pictured with President Truman several times. An image with the Truman Library shows Truman blowing out a birthday candle alongside Talge.

The White House was originally constructed in 1791. It was burned in 1814 by the British, but it was reconstructed and added onto throughout the first half of the 1800s.

From 1948 to 1952, Truman lead an expansive renovation and extension of the presidential mansion, according to the White House Historical Association. The White House seen today is mostly a result of this massive midcentury project.

“Henry’s grandson went to Southwest [High School] also … and he loved this track coach named Coach House,” Kniggendorf said.

She said the coach died in the mid-1950s, and the slab was donated to the school as a memorial.

“The plaque for it is way, way over there on the flag pole, which they moved in the 1960s apparently so it would be more visible!” Kniggendorf said incredulously, pointing to the other side of the track beyond the fence.