Ryan High School

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Ryan High School Soundex Code R500

Wisconsin State Journal Tuesday, January 26, 1904, page 1

Ryan High School Burned

Appleton Loses a Fine $50,000 structure Defective Furnace Cause

Flames break out in early morning hour and building is totally destroyed

Appleton Wisconsin Tuesday, January 26, 1904--

Fire at [1:20? 4:20?] o'clock this morning totally destroyed the Ryan High School building totaling a loss of $50,000. There was [$2?,000] insurance on the building. The fire is supposed to have started from a defective furnace flue. It is considered fortunate that it did not break out during school hours. The building was one of the finest in the state.

According to A History of Pride: Appleton Public Schools 1850-1994, pp. 25-26:

"Ryan High was built by the Second District in 1881-83. In effect, it was two schools in one, a "common school" with a full eight grades, and a four-year high school."

Construction started 1883 and was completed in 1883.

Appleton Public Schools 1850-1994, pp. 85-90:

No records were saved from the fire, only the microscopes were removed by three people who crawled up ladders and removed them through the windows. Classes were spread around the city to city hall, the public library, Lawrence University, etc.

They ended up building a unified high school rather than one just for the second district. It was named Appleton High School, and bounded by Harris, North, Oneida and Morrison streets, built partially on the same location as Ryan High School but expanded, to enable a larger school which could take 500 students.

I couldn't find a completion date for the unified high school in this book, and we don't have a 1905 City directory available. It appears to have been finished by 1906, as according to the 1906 Appleton City Directory, the address was 784 Harris.

This high school was superseded by a new Appleton High School in 1938, with a capacity of 1,800, located on Badger Avenue.

Former Students

Robert Herman Buck 1897