 |
|
Haddon Township Historical Photographs Haddon Township Junior High School (1951 - 1962) |
|
Haddon Township provided junior high school grades originally in the wood schoolhouse (called the Rownadtown School and later
the Wetsmont School) and after that was torn down, The Haddon Avenue School (Westmont School) which were located where the Haddon Township Municipal
Building now stands at the northeast corner of Haddon and Reeve Avenues. According to Esterbrook Reeve (1881-1980), in the frame schoolhouse (the early
Westmont School) classes went up to grade 8. After which were offered two adddition years called A & B which he said were muchlike the first two years of
high school and included subjects such as algebra, geometry and physics. Reeve graduated from his last grade in 1898. The later brick Haddon School No. 1
(Westmont School) which replaced the wood schoolhouse continued to offer up through grade 8. After which a student would have to select which surrounding
community where they wished to attend high school. This was mostly a factor of where the student lived. The junior high grade levels (7th and 8th) moved
to different schools in Haddon Township as newer schools were built in the 1920s and 1930s. School No. 5 (now called Strawbridge Avenue School) had junior
high students in the late 1920s. As the population increases the necessity for dedicated junior high school resulted in the construction of the Thomas A.
Edison Junior High School at 205 Melrose Avenue which was completed in 1931. Edison served as a dedicated junior high school until the construction of the
more modern, centrally located Haddon Township Junior High School was completed, on what is now Memorial Avenue, in 1951. After this time Edison became an
elementary school to meet the growing needs of more elementary school classrooms. |
 Haddon Township School Board President, Clyde S. Jennings breaks ground for the Haddon Township Junior High School in 1950 [Source: Courtesy: Marguerite Bennett Collection, William G. Rohrer Memorial Library, Haddon Township, NJ] |
| The new junior high school would include through grades nine, after which, atudents would attend high school outside of Haddon Township. The completed Haddon Township Junior High School was a single story, U-shaped building which encompassed what is now the front portion of the current Haddon Township High School. The building ended just short of the auditorium on the southern end and just short of the main gymnasium on the northern end. What would later become familiarly known as "The Girl's Gym" was the the only gymnasium in the original Haddon Township Junior High School buidling. By 1959 the total enrollment in the Haddon Township Junior High School had grown to a record 617 students. In 1960, as in the prior years the Junior High school day ran from 8:25 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The eighth grade class that started the 1960-1961 school year at the Junior High school would go on to be the pioneer graduating class of the high school that was then beeing planned |
 Ina L. Ashton |
The principal for the Haddon Township Junior High School was Ina L. Ashton (1897-1979) who served until her retirement in 1962, the year the high school was completed. Ina L. Ashton was born in Chester, Vermont on May 16, 1897, the daughter of Laura B. and Joseph M. Ashton. In 1899, the Ashtons moved to collingswood, New Jersey when Ina's father was made pastor of the First Baptist church. Ina was a graduate of the Trenton Normal School (today The University of New Jersey) and she recieved her Master's degree from Columbia University. The first class she taught in the Haddon Township School System was grade 6 in the Haddon Avenue School (Westmont School) at Haddon and Reeve Avenues for the school year 1917-1918. She taught and later served as a school principal in the Haddon Township school system for 46 years. When the Haddon Township High School was built the auditorium was named in her honor. She later lived in Wisconsin and her last few years of life were spent in St. Petersburg, Florida. She dies in May 1979. A local meorial service was held at the Oaklyn Baptist Church on May 20, 1979. |
 Newspaper Graduation Announcement for Haddon Township Junior High School [Source: Courtesy: Marguerite Bennett Collection, William G. Rohrer Memorial Library, Haddon Township, NJ] |
|
[Sources: "Esterbrook Reeve Provides Link With Township Past"; "Haddon Twp's New Eighth Graders Will Compreise High School's Pioneer Class," Supplement to The Suburban - Haddon Gazzette - The Cherry Hill and Delaware Township News, August 25, 1960; program from memorial service for Ina L. Ashton, Oaklyn Baptist Church, May 20, 1979. |
 |
 |