Worthington-West Franklin
High School

Worthington, PA

1933 - 1984

Schools 

James Barr, Jr. was assessed as a schoolmaster on the list for Buffalo Township in 1806-07, but just where his school was is not known. The first school in the borough was held in the Lutheran Church, where the Teachers Institute of the County was held in April, 1860. A young lady who taught there one winter had occasion to flog one of her juvenile male pupils. His irate father, the next day, rushed into the schoolroom and gave her, as indiscreet parents sometimes do under like circumstances, a severe scolding and intimated that if she were not a woman he would flog her. She promptly replied, Oh, you needn't make that excuse. Try it and I'll flog you. He didn't try it.

The first schoolhouse (Union) in West Franklin Township was a rude log structure, sixteen by sixteen feet, situated near Lennington Run in the forks of the road, not far from the present borough of Worthington.  (Approximately one mile north on the Cowansville Road. The fork in the road led left to Lairds Crossing and right to Cowansville.)  There were a total of eight schools in the township until the consolidation of the borough and township into one school district in 1930. They were known as follows: Union, Hohn, Hindman, Long, McKee, Tory, Noble, and Craigsville.

Worthington became, of course, when incorporated as a borough, a separate school district, and a frame schoolhouse was erected in the angle formed by the junction of Ross Street and the public road. Its statistics for 1860 were: average number of months taught, 4; teacher, male, 1; monthly salary, $20.00; male scholars, 24; female scholars, 37; average number attending school, 48; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 41 cents.

In 1876 the statistics for West Franklin Township were as follows: number of schools, 8; average number of months taught, 5; male teachers, 2; female teachers, 6; average monthly salaries of both male and female teachers, $30.00; male scholars, 263; female scholars, 160; average number attending school, 249; cost of teaching each pupil per month, 73 cents.

By 1913 the number of months taught had increased to seven and the number of male teachers was one and the number of female teachers was seven with an increase in salary to $50.00 and an increase in cost of educating each pupil to $2.67.

The Worthington Borough Elementary School was at one time located on the Buffalo Hill which has been converted into the Rhoades residence. In 1898 a three-room school building was erected at the site of the present borough building and was virtually rebuilt in 1926, when two rooms were added to the original structure.

This building was destroyed by fire on February 15, 1943, at a loss estimated at more than $25,000. Classes continued in the high school building by converting the gymnasium into four classrooms and the stage into two rooms.

About 1930, the borough and township voted to consolidate their schools and the present high school building was constructed, which housed grades six through twelve. In 1948, an additional six-room building was erected adjoining the high school building. The first graduating class from Worthington-West Franklin Township High School consisted of twenty-six members for the school term of 1932-33. Mr. Frank E. Leard was the first principal and he continued to serve in this capacity until 1954, when he was succeeded by Mr. John McCoy, the present principal. During the current term there were enrolled five hundred sixty-six pupils and twenty-two teachers. The average teacher's salary today is $433.00 a month; the average cost of educating each elementary pupil is $29.24 a month and each high school pupil's average is $43.78.

Worthington Academy, first called Buffalo Institute, was organized by the Lutheran Church in 1852. The first principal was Mr. C. J. Ebrehart, who taught one session. He was a graduate of Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. The Academy continued to operate at irregular intervals and ceased to operate permanently in 1889. The prominent aim of the institution was to qualify young ladies and gentlemen for teaching, and its success was marked in this direction. It fitted a number of young men for the higher classes in college and for professional life, and it numbers among its former students some who reflected great credit on the academy in which they were trained. The structure still stands, being converted into the residence of Orman Edwards. (Updated: The house sat on Ross Street across from the Baptist Church. The house was torn down around 1970, by the next door neighbor  (John McCoy), who had purchased the property.)

1963 Centennial Booklet