Page 113 - 2020 LP Yearbook

In 1916, the original cost of the new school was to be about $125,000. By the time construction began in 1921, the
price had increased to $410,000, with the extra monies coming from more taxes and bonds that were to be sold.
Representatives from the state education department were in Lake Placid in 1917 to inspect the old wooden
school. It was declared unfit for use and a danger to students. The school board agreed. In November of 1919, the
education department came up with a list of actions that needed to be taken by the school board, including
condemning the school and raising more money for the construction of the new school, which were eventually
done to the satisfaction of the state, avoiding the need for the state to step in and oversee the processes.
Construction of the new school went along well. The building was a marvel for its time and location. The
composite floors cost $10,000. Each class room had a blackboard, phone, and an electric clock. There was a
modern boiler in the basement that was successfully fired up in July 1922. The basement also had a gymnasium as
well as class rooms for kindergarten and grade 1. The first floor contained grade 2, physical education and locker
rooms with side entrances, and a principal’s suite. The auditorium, which could hold more than 800 people, took
up part of the basement and first floors. The second floor housed grades 3 through 9, a junior high study hall, as
well as typing, music, and drawing rooms. Grades 10 through 12, a senior study hall, and separate physics and
chemistry demonstration/lecture rooms were on the third floor. The entire building was reinforced with concrete
and steel and deemed to be fireproof. The area in front of the school was graded for athletic fields. In 1922, the old
school and another building, the Prunier house, were sold to the Lake Placid Club for $2000. Both buildings were
moved to the club property, with the old school being cut into three sections to do so. The old school building on
the Lake Placid Club property was torn down in 1998.

The new school opened on September 7, 1922, with 28 teachers and 658 registered pupils with perhaps 75 more to
be added later. Mr. Heth G. Coons was the superintendent. Minor work was yet to be finished and progress went
well. The operating budget for the school year was nearly $87,120. That same school year began with new rules
from the education department requiring a 40 week school year and regents passing grades of 65%. The first
graduation ceremony for the new school took place on June 27, 1923, with 9 graduates. Lake Placid became a
centralized school district on July 2, 1930.

As time went by, the student population continued to grow, leading to a major addition from 1934 to 1936. The
high school took on the frontal appearance that we see today with the addition of a center section and a north
wing, with the original 1922 school being incorporated as the south wing of the completed 3 section building. A
Palladian neoclassical façade covered the entire building. The enlarged school opened in September of 1936 with
David G. Allen as principal. In June of 1937, 29 students graduated from the high school. Further renovations took
place from 1973 to 1975. This included interior renovations, in half school increments, and an addition to the north
end with new rooms for music and home economics classes, with a drive through bay beneath them.

In 1999, the school board approved two additions. One was attached to the back of the north wing which resulted
in more rooms for the middle school and technology. A new gymnasium was attached to the back of the south
wing. Various other renovations took place throughout the building, including updated science rooms.
Construction began in 1999 and finished in 2001.The resulting configuration is what we see for the school today in
2020.

Due increasing student population, a new elementary school was built on Old Military road. It opened in 1975. A
new playground was built in 1989 which has since been replaced. Grade 6 moved to the middle high school with
the start of school in September 1995. A new addition was built on the elementary school in 1997.

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