The
Baby-Boomer Years and Postwar Housing
At the end of World War Two, soldiers
returning from the battlefield found their sweetheart, got married,
and began to raise a family. Due to the birthrate explosion, this
time period would become known as the 'Baby-Boom'.
These new Niles' families needed
new homes and builders added new homes in various areas: Off North
Main Street, Wade and Rose Construction erected homes on Wade
and Wilson Avenue. Below Vienna Avenue, homes were developed on
Frederick Street and along North Road new homes were being built.
The Niles City School Board and
Administration began planning the addition of several new schools
to accomodate the flood of the Baby-Boom students. A bond Levy
was passed in 1953 and building plans were developed with construction
starting in 1955. The old Lincoln School on Cedar Street was to
be replaced with the new Lincoln Elementary School on Frederick
Street, S.J. Bonham Elementary School on East Margaret was to
provide classrooms for the North Road students and a new Niles
McKinley High School on Trumbull Drive for grades 10-12 would
allow the old high school on Church Street (Edison Jr.) to house
grades 7-9. By combining all students in grades 7-9 at Edison,
Washington Junior High School would become the last elementary
school to be enlarged.
The new Lincoln and S.J. Bonham
schools opened in 1956 and 1957 respectively with the new Niles
McKinley High School being dedicated in the Fall of 1957. Later
in 1965, a new Jackson Elementary School would be built on Smith
Street to replace the 1893 Jackson Building on Warren Avenue.
Harrison School in McKinley Heights was closed in 1956 and the
elementary students were bussed to Washington Elementary.
The former Niles High School on
Church and Arlington streets became Edison Junior High School
in the Fall of 1958 and all junior high students attended grades
7-8-9 there. |