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| Ambridge High School 740 Park Road Daily Citizen supplement August 10, 1929 courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
The first Ambridge High School was built on Park Rd. in 1913-14, back-to-back with Second Ward School (later the Ambridge Recreation Center) which faced Maplewood. The High School opened in September 1914.
Before the first high school was built, high school students shared grade school buildings with younger students.*
Both junior and senior high students attended school in the Park Rd. building until a new Jr. High School was built on Duss Ave. in 1925. After the Jr. High opened, only Senior High students continued to attend school in the Park Rd. building until a new Senior High School annex was added to the Duss Ave. Jr. High School building. That addition opened in 1938.
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| Ambridge High School 740 Park Rd. postcard |
After the Senior High students moved to Duss Ave., the Park Rd. building became an elementary school called Park Road School. In 1972, the Ambridge School Board closed Park Road School, and the building became the Ambridge Area School District Central Administrative Offices. In 2011, it became the location of the Center for Hope.
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| First Ambridge High School building, later Park Road School,740 Park Rd. November 20, 2013 copyright Nancy Knisley |
At one time, Ambridge had eight school buildings crowded with students: First Ward, Second Ward, Fourth Ward, Harmony, Liberty, the first Ambridge High School (later Park Road School), Ambridge Jr. High School (later Ambridge Jr. - Sr. High School), and Anthony Wayne Elementary. Only two of those school buildings are still standing--the first High School/Park Road building and Anthony Wayne (although much altered from the original structure). Neither building is still used as a school by the Ambridge Area School District.
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* Information on the different Ambridge school buildings where high school students once attended classes is somewhat conflicting. As I continue to gather more information about the history of the Ambridge schools, I hope to accurately resolve the conflicts.
The 1955 Ambridge Golden Jubilee Program gave these dates:
- 1904 - 1912: Fourth Ward School;
- 1912 - 1913: First Ward School;
- 1913 - 1914: Harmony School.
The 1944 Bridger yearbook provided this information:
- 1904 - 1911: Fourth Ward School;
- 1911 - 1914: First Ward and Harmony buildings.
Nancy...I would say 1972 I attended PreSchool at Park Road.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what part of the post your comment is referring to. Or are you just providing additional information? Please explain.
DeleteHey, we really like this site, we used some info from it, so we included a link back here on The Lifetime Movies Wiki. This location was used in the Lifetime movie, "Doomsday Mom: The Lori Vallow Story". They had it as a police station, but I included the real info I learned here, and a link giving credit. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttps://lifetimemovies.fandom.com/wiki/Doomsday_Mom if you do check it out, please use full site mode, using the link at the very bottom of the page. It looks better this way, even if you're viewing it in a phone. Thanks again for the info!