About Central

In actuality Madison High School, as it was first known, began in 1853. The first graduating class was graduated four years later in 1858. Two more graduating classes followed in 1859 and 1860. The next year the Civil War forced the school to close as so many boys went off to fight. During this period an attempt to re-establish a Female Academy was made, but it did not last for more than a year. The co-educational high school re-opened in 1866 and the next graduation took place in 1872. Since then there has been a graduating class every year. Adding the three pre-Civil War graduations to the 97 since 1872 you get 100 years of co-educational graduation by 1969, a centennial for Central High School.


Madison High School's history began in 1854 in the basement of the Methodist church with 90 pupils and one teacher. In 1856 it moved to the Congregational church with 150 pupils, but attendance was irregular, so progress was slow. In 1858 a move for a permanent school building was made when the Madison Female Academy building (on the present site of Central) was bought for $3500. When the school reopened in 1866 after the Civil War interim, the original building was reported to be "unsightly, badly arranged and wholly unworthy of the city." The need for a new building was seen and finally realized in 1873 when it was constructed on the original site. An addition was made in 1888, doubling the building's capacity.


However, by 1900, the school was over-crowded and there was hope for another new building (the building extant in 1969). Student sentiment concurred with this feeling as seen by this poem, written in the 1901 Tychoberahn (the school yearbook):


"The Wigwam of Tychoberah
Like a squaw all old and wrinkled
Thirty winters had it stood there
Stood the Wigwam of Tychoberah


While the children of Tychoberah
Flocked within its dingy door flaps
Flocked to hear the word of Wisdom
of the master Hutcheesabnee."


The project for a new high school was begun in 1901. In 1903 the Board of Education decided to conduct a contest for an architect to design the new school. The winner was Cass Gilbert, a prominent architect of that time, who also designed several state capitols and the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.


Plans for the new building were large and exciting. "It will be something to which citizens may proudly point as being indicative of Madison's progress and enterprise in education." The building was to be "substantial in construction ... (and) simple and restrained in architectural character" and large enough for her 1000 pupils. One notable feature (beloved by classes down the years) was the stone figures that decorated the entrances, mysteriously staring down at students arriving for school or taking a break on the steps.


The new building would be very different from the old building in that instead of large study areas, there would be classrooms for 50 or 60. There would be a large assembly room for exercises (recitations), lectures and entertainment programs. It was thought that meetings of all pupils would encourage school spirit. There would be a modern gymnasium with all bathing and dressing facilities, lecture rooms, laboratories, and "suites" for domestic science and manual training.


The building was begun in 1906. The 1907 annual tells of the separate fates of the different classes as they were split up when the old building was being torn down. The Freshmen were at the "new" Doty School. Sophomores and Juniors were in the "most beautiful" (public) library. The Seniors studied in the combined engine house and police station. The new building was finally completed and opened in 1908.


Madison High School's enrollment grew steadily and was almost at 1000 by 1918. Crowding began to be a problem and a new high school was seen as the solution. So, East High School was built and in 1922 Madison High became Central High School. When West was built in 1930, the Central Junior High School was organized. In the 1960s it became known as Madison Central University High School because of close ties with the University of Wisconsin intern and teacher training programs.


Throughout her history, Central was always thoughtful and progressive about her educational programs, realizing the importance of her responsibility as an educational institution. Back in 1901 Superintendent Dudgeon wrote "knowledge and power is essential to be a successful life and must be furnished by the school." He went on to stress the importance of the school's "adjusting" to changes and increasing demands.


Later in 1931, principal Volney G. Barnes wrote rather indignantly, "If costs to the individuals of the community are to be scrutinized, I would say that it would be far better for them to give up their face powders, cars, chewing gum and tobacco rather than cut down on costs of education."


School spirit was always an integral part of the school. This was seen especially in times of war. In 1918 there seemed to be some question as to whether school social life should continue in the same way. But it was decided that "'Tis smiles not tears will win this war."


School spirit really surged during World War II, when one scrap drive collected twenty tons of material, there was 85-90 per cent participation in stamp and bond sales, and there was a "Walk to Victory" campaign.


"You as high school boys and girls will have to grow up more rapidly because of the war," principal Leonard Wahler wrote in 1945. "You will have to lose by sacrifice, some of the normal life and fun that should be the right of every young person. But that is a demand of war and of country. With it all, let's keep some of the spirit and joy of living, of finding and making and being friends in a cheerful and gracious atmosphere here, in our Central High School home."


In the 1960s, many new educational projects were instituted. For instance: language labs, offering advanced math courses (calculus), intern teaching and team teaching. The team teaching program began in the English Department in 1962. The intern program, with the interns coming from the University of Wisconsin, was commented on by Miss Elizabeth Ritzmann, a former Central High School teacher. She wrote, "The internship experience has been exciting ... [offering] hope of getting good, new, young teachers."


Among Central's distinguished graduates are Chief Justice of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court Timothy Brown (class of 1907), U.S. Senator from Oregon Wayne Morse and his wife Mildred Downie Morse (both class of 1919), actress Bernardine Flynn who played Sade in the popular radio series "Vic and Sade" (class of 1922), Nobel prize-winning physicist John Bardeen (class of 1923), U.S. Secretary of the Interior (under Franklin D. Roosevelt) Julius "Cap" Krug (class of 1925), comic strip artist Don Trachte known for his "Little Henry" series (class of 1933), several former Madison mayors and presidents of the Board of Education and a number of all-American athletes.


Despite direct appeals to the Governor, Central High School closed its doors in June of 1969 and the building briefly became part of the Madison Area Vocational and Technical College which shared half the block-square site. Today an arch from the building stands near the original entrance as a permanent reminder of the building which for one hundred years was the home away from home for so many Madison high school students.


--adapted from the 1968-1969 TYCHOBERAHN


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