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Similar Experience

JHS Class Of 1919 Faced Spanish Influenza

Jamestown High School and Grammar School located on the site of the present Jamestown High School on East Second Street. This was the high school for Jamestown from 1868 to 1934. Submitted photo

As the Class of 2020 faces a very different end of school and graduation than the many classes before them, this will be a look at another class that had a similar experience but a different outcome.

We have been reminded over the past few weeks that there was a global pandemic in 1918 with the Spanish influenza. Many comparisons have been made and many stories from 1918 have been retold.

The Spanish influenza arrived in this area by October 1918. The senior class of that time was the Class of 1919. Jamestown closed schools on Oct. 9. At that time it was not a state wide occurrence, with each area determining what to do. Other schools around Jamestown did not all close on the same day. It appears that many of the neighboring schools closed the following week and they also opened earlier than Jamestown schools. Jamestown schools opened Monday, Nov. 11, except for any students from homes where cases of influenza were present or they were less than ten days from exposure.

While schools were closed, parents were reminded that it was not a school vacation and that children should not be allowed to play in the streets and gather in neighborhoods. Movie theaters were closed and the Board of Health asked citizens to postpone non-essential public gatherings, the anti-spitting ordinance was enforced on trolleys, and all influenza patients were to be quarantined for 10 days.

When the schools opened the students had missed 25 days of instruction. The plan was then to lengthen each day by one hour, hold classes on Saturday mornings, hold classes on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and shorten school vacations to make up the time lost. Many schools across the state asked to have the Regents examinations postponed or shortened because of the lost instruction time. The Regents Examinations were not postponed or changed in any way. These were the biggest changes for the members of the class of 1919.

One must remember that at the same time the Spanish influenza was causing all this in the Jamestown area, the War in Europe, which became known as World War I, was still going on in Europe. The Armistice ending the war was declared on Nov. 11, the same day school reopened in Jamestown. Celebrations of the Armistice took place in the city with many people and children involved. Not long after the opening of schools and the celebrations for the end of the war, there was an increase in the number of cases of influenza and pneumonia in the area. Some of the rural schools closed again, sometimes because the teacher was ill. Jamestown schools remained open. By Dec. 20, the newspaper reported that there were a great number of pneumonia and influenza cases among children. The public was asked to keep children from attending moving pictures and crowded places.

On Oct. 5, the local newspaper had an article telling that the Red and Green publication of the Jamestown High school would be three issues, plus the Senior Annual at the end of the school year. By the end of October an announcement was made that the Red and Green issue was postponed. There was a Senior Annual. I do not know at this time if the other three issues were produced after school opened. The Fenton History Center has a run of the Red and Green so that question can be answered when the Fenton’s Research Center reopens.

Cases of pneumonia and influenza continued to be reported into 1919 and on September 6th, there were still 13 cases here. The usual activities for the Class of 1919 continued in June with Baccalaureate services, Commencement, along with Class Day, the Junior-Senior banquet, the Alumni banquet, and undoubtedly many parties and family gatherings. The Class of 1919 missed five weeks of instruction but found ways to make that up and take the Regents Exams in January. Their school activities continued and they had graduation as usually.

Congratulations to the Class of 2020! You will not have the same experiences of graduation as those before you, but you will have some very unique memories.

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