Beaver County School District history

Beaver Academy opened for boys in 1815.

However, for some 77 years before the founding of Ambridge, the area had been distinguished by Old Economy, the settlement of the Harmony Society in 1825, when it moved from Indiana back to Pennsylvania.

Although there had been some schools and teachers earlier, the public school system in the borough of Beaver began in 1838 when two one-story buildings were constructed.

J. A. Neal, a coal operator and riverman, had donated land as early as 1865 for the establishment of a school.

The first public school in Beaver Falls opened in 1867.

In 1877, Beaver Falls established a high school.

College Hill had been organized as a school district in 1892, when it became an incorporated borough.

In 1901, ground was purchased on Pinney Street, and on June 10, 1901, the contract was let to Kountz Brothers.

Conway Borough, incorporated in 1902, in that year had a two-room school which could not accommodate its student enrollment.

Five years later, in 1905, the purchase of lands by the Midland Steel Company along the Ohio River near the Ohio border led to the founding of a new community in the county.

Following his term of office, Clyde C. Green of Irwin became the superintendent in 1906.

The history of Midland schools began with a meeting of the Neals Independent District in June 1907, according to Doctor Ralph H. Jewell, formerly superintendent of the Midland schools.

The borough of Woodlawn was incorporated from Hopewell Township in 1908, its population drawn to the area by the establishment of the Aliquippa Works of Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation along the Ohio River.

First class recognition of the high school came in 1910.

Following C. C. Green in 1911 as head of New Brighton schools was Floyd Atwell.

By 1912, the children of Harmony Township were schooled in other districts.

The first supervising principal was Frank C. Ketler, elected on June 18, 1913.

A fire on February 24, 1914, severely damaged the new Pinney School.

The high school was open on a tuition basis to students from neighboring communities as early as 1915.

In 1916, a night school program for adults was established.

One of Aliquippa's most innovative and successful administrators was H. R. Vanderslice, who became superintendent of the schools on May 6, 1926.

The two-room schoolhouse on Seventh Avenue, called the Little Red Schoolhouse and not demolished until 1928, was the first in the community.

A twostory wing was added to the high school in 1929.

In 1930, Joseph Marchetti created a four-year art course.

Named the George Washington School, it opened in September 1932, as a junior high school.

Petrie succeeded him in 1934 and held the office for almost twenty years.

Beginning in 1938, a junior high building on Duss Avenue near Ninth Street was enlarged to provide a junior-senior high school complex.

In the 1940's, two additions were built.

In 1942 the athletic director and coach was Maurice (Moe) Rubenstein, a famed name in Beaver County sports history.

In July 1945, the Board purchased land at the eastern limits of Midland.

Also during his term an annex was added to the high school building in 1947, providing rooms for music, art, mechanical drawing, and general classrooms.

Doctor J. Richard Fruth was named supervising principal of Freedom Borough Schools in 1951 and held that position for ten years.

The plan submitted to the State Department of Education in 1953 proposed the use of five elementary schools: two in Rochester, one in East Rochester, and two in Rochester Township.

The Central Elementary School was built in 1954 on Ninth Avenue and Fifteenth Street.

The school district was further enlarged by a union with Eastvale Borough and White Township schools in 1958.

A new junior-senior high school in New Sewickley Township near Freedom was under construction by 1959.

Upon his retirement in 1962, his many friends praised his years of service and extended wishes for a happy retirement."

By 1963, the Freedom Area Schools' building program was, at least temporarily, completed.

By 1964, a new Monaca High School was opened.

Named superintendent in 1967, he worked to establish the Ambridge Area schools as not only the largest district in the county but as one of the best.

Miller took a leave of absence, resigning in 1969 to join the staff at Geneva College.

Richmond School was restored in 1970 as a historical site and is open to the public on Sunday afternoons in the summer.

South Heights, across the river, was also included in the jointure mandated in 1971 by the Department of Education.

Following Doctor Fruth's retirement in 1975, William A. Smith served as acting superintendent until December of that year.

Elizabeth Carver was elected to the Aliquippa Hall of Fame in 1980, honored for her organization of Play Day for county girls and for leadership in girls' sports.