A rock garden was placed near the flagpole directly in front of the school. Classic small pedestrian bridges were inserted across the narrower portions of the pond and a bird sanctuary was added. This did not deter Wirt soon the land was dredged and the lagoon filled with water. At the time a small ravine ran through the center of the property, rendering any development difficult and expensive. Superintendent Wirt’s elaborate plans called for landscape architects to alter the property’s topography to produce a lagoon and rolling natural park behind the school. Neighborhood residents were more than a little confused when steam shovels and dredging equipment appeared at Horace Mann in 1927. The Horace Mann School was about to receive a landscaping makeover which would set it apart from every other Gary school and turn Mann into the premiere school in town. On November 8th, 1926, the cornerstone for the central building at 524 Garfield Street ( map) was finally laid.īut Wirt didn’t stop there. By 1922 the east building had been erected, and the west building followed two years later in 1924.
FIRSTCLASS HORACE MANN PORTABLE
Demand for the west side school was greater than initially thought, and in 1919 three more portable units were added behind the first two.Ī year later Wirt realized permanent structures would need to be built, and in 1921 construction on the present-day Horace Mann School would begin. The first class consisted of 45 students who had previously attended Jefferson School. Mann would be the steel city’s third high school when it was established at West 5th Avenue and Garfield Street in 1918 – but it would be constructed in pieces and not officially completed until 1928.Īt first Horace Mann consisted of two portable trailers near the street on the large property. Wirt’s public school to serve the growing west side was named after education reformer Horace Mann, who pioneered the concept of public funding for schools regardless of sex or race. The schools – Froebel, Roosevelt, Horace Mann and Lew Wallace – were all 3-stories tall and to be constructed in a similar red-brick-with-white-trim classical composition style as Emerson. Wanting to expand on his earlier success, the aggressive superintendent drew up plans to add at least four schools over the next two decades. Wirt’s new platoon-style method of education called “ Work-Study-Play” was deemed a success during its launch at nearby Emerson Schoolin 1908. When the residents appealed to Gary Schools Superintendent William Wirt, he listened. As the town of Gary grew, so did the need for more schools. The upper west side was pleasant if not beautiful, but growth was limited as long as the the neighborhood lacked its own school.
Homes in the neighborhood would boast similar design cues as the region grew and established an identity. The Horace Mann-Ambridge neighborhood was defined by classic Georgian brick and stucco architecture. Steel executives and their families once lived on the tree-lined streets of the town’s upper west side. * Horace Mann School postcard, 1931 Plans and Establishment Is the school’s rich history enough to secure its future? In 2004 the school board voted to shutter the building, and nine years later the ailing building still stands vacant and crumbling. Horace Mann’s fortunes would ebb and flow with those of Gary when the city’s population declined so did enrollment at the school.
The campus set a new standard for the area’s public schools by featuring landscaped rolling hills, multiple gyms and pools, and even a man-made pond. A creation of innovative educator William Wirt, the unique school took seven years to build and was finished in 1928. The Horace Mann School of Gary, Indiana is on the short list of American high schools that have graduated more than 75 classes of students.