Building Places to Learn

In 1883, plans for St. Edward’s school described two stories and six rooms, with use intended around the New Year. That was an expectation for a building’s future, not confirmation of the day students first entered it.

Other school milestones belonged to different institutions and generations. St. Mary’s Slovak school had a cornerstone ceremony on September 19, 1937, at Cherry and Webster streets. In 1957, reporting described a school annex dedication attended in the morning by about 1,900 students. The Lourdes dedication at Edgewood followed in 1959.

By 1975, coverage of the new Shamokin high school followed students finding their way through unfamiliar surroundings. That everyday adjustment gives the construction story its purpose. Cornerstones and dedication programs mark public milestones, but a school becomes part of students’ lives through the ordinary work of learning where to go and making a new building familiar.