Andrew Marshall
Green, circa 1930-32
» "This
is a picture of my father when he played football for John Harris, circa
1930-1932.
I am not certain of the date. He lived in "uptown"
Harrisburg. Why he went all that distance to John Harris I do not know!"
Editor's notes: Click the image for a larger
picture. John Harris and William Penn High Schools opened in 1926,
replacing the old Central and Technical High Schools. The Technical
High School building still stands as Old City Hall Apartments, taking its current name from its post
educational use for many years as Harrisburg's city hall, until the city moved
City Hall to
the King City Government Center on Second Street. The Central High
School.
building, originally at Capitol and Forster Streets, no longer exists. (click
here for a photograph of that building)
John Harris had undefeated football teams from
1929-1931.
Several visitors to the site have identified the
location of this photograph as Edison Junior High School, and not John
Harris High School. The speculation is that the photograph actually
depicts Andrew Green as a football player for Edison Junior High
School. Jim Mitchell, a 1962 graduate of Edison, notes:
"In my days at Edison the football team would dress at Edison and
run to John Harris for practice and team pictures were taken on the
front steps at Edison."
Mr. Garth Smallwood, of the Harrisburg School
District, adds the following historical notes on Harrisburg's old junior
high schools: "Camp Curtin Jr. High existed at the same time
as Edison. Old Camp Curtin was located on the same
site as the Camp Curtin YMCA at Sixth and Woodbine
Streets. Most everyone that I talked to said that Edison was for the
hill and Curtin was for uptown. Camp Curtin Jr. High School was torn down in the early sixties to make way for the
"Y". I have an 82 year old aunt who
attended there in the early 40's. It is my guess that Camp Curtin
actually pre-dates John Harris and William Penn. William Penn was built
in 1926. Also, Edison was made up of two sections.
The original section was where the football photo
was taken, and a second section was added much
later."
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Sources
Correspondence,
Sheila Green-Stevenson to Afrolumens Project, July 16, 24, 2003.
Correspondence,
Barbara Barksdale to Afrolumens Project, July 19, 2003.
Correspondence,
Garth Smallwood to Afrolumens Project, September 4, 5, November 24, 2003.
Correspondence,
Jim Mitchell to Afrolumens Project, October 2, 2003.
Sunday
Patriot-News, October 17, 1954, "Steelton Belabors Penn,"
p. 42.
Barton,
Michael and Jessica Dorman, Harrisburg's Old Eighth Ward
(Charleston, SC, 2002) p. 52.
Beers,
Paul B., Profiles from the Susquehanna Valley (Harrisburg, 1973),
p. 86-87.
Notes
The Afrolumens Project
extends its sincere thanks to Sheila Green-Stevenson for permission to
publish these photographs, and to Garth Smallwood for correcting several
errors about the history of Harrisburg's junior high schools.
For More
Information
For more Steelton material, see our Midland
Cemetery pages.
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Steel-High Football
Miscellaneous Pictures
Steel-High Rollers Football Team, circa 1953
Sheila's comments: "The attached picture is
one of the 1953 Steel High football team. My husband was able to
identify several of the players:
Front Row: 3rd player, Donald Stevenson; 4th, Getz; 6th, Yetter; 7th,
Drakovitch;
9th, Musa
BACK ROW: #33, John Jones; #10, Braxton; #22=Lutz; #38, Buzzy Reed."
Editor's note: Click the image
above for a full-size picture. Barbara
Barksdale, President of the Friends of Midland, also identifies number
38, in the back row, as Buzzy Reed.
Program Photographs
Programs
from football games are good sources of images from a bygone era in
local sports. The program at left is from the Steelton-William
Penn game, October 16, 1954 (Steelton won the contest, 37-6).
The photographs below came from the program for the 1955
game between Steel High and Williamsport High School.
For a description of the
1956 game between Steelton and Allentown, click
here.
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