Waggener High School - RingBrothersHistory.com

The Voice of St. Matthews, January 12, 1956: Not Altogether Suburban After 1955St. Matthews Not Altogether Suburban After 1955The Bank of Louisville, out for new business, announced a bank survey would be conducted in 12,000 homes in this areaby 400 volunteer workers from the Eastern High Development Association. This survey earned for the Association $2,000,which it used for development of the school’s athletic facilities.The St. Matthews Jaycees on July 28, 29, and 30 sponsored Dollar Days in St. Matthews, to attract new business here.The Voice of St. Matthews’ printing capacities were quadrupled in December with acquisition by its printer, The ClarkCounty Press of a Guss Rotary press.All the expansion here in 1955 was not, or course, only in the field of business. No accurate figures are available, but onebuilder estimated that about 800 to 1,000 new homes were completed in the Greater St. Matthews area.Of great interest to the whole community was the completion of the new Y.M.C.A. Building on Norbourne Boulevard. The$200,000 one-floor building was dedicated and finished in June, greatly increasing the “community’s athletic and recreationalfacilities. The building encompasses 10,500 square feet of floor space , and has a gym 50 by 80 feet with six basketballgoals.Immediately, Y secretary Ross Chasteen announced a greatly enlarged program of basketball, square dancing, arts andcrafts, and dozens of other activities, for adults as well as children. The building was the work of dedicated men such asbuilding chairman Burton Stevens, “Mr. Y.M.C.A. himself,” and St. Matthews Y chairman Clarence Hardin.Only one school was built here, although there were minor additions to several others. In September the St. Matthews ElementarySchool opened with an enrollment of about 375 pupils. There were 21 classrooms, some of which had to be usedby nearby crowded Waggener Junior High. The Sacred Heart Model School opened on Ursuline campus in September.However, the churches continued to grow swiftly. While Bethel Evangelical and Reformed Church’s expansion programwas set back by unexpectedly high building costs, St. John’s Lutheran Church in March voted to buy a new 3.6 acres on theeast side of Breckenridge Lane, south of Springlee, from Brown Hotel Farms. Pastor Sam Diehl announced the congregation,now around 400, had tripled since 1948, and further expansion at the Breckenridge and Grandview Church was impossible.The present church structure was slated to be sold.(On one day in September the congregation of St. John’s pledged $10,000 for construction of the new church.)In April Meadowview Presbyterian Church, held dedication ceremonies for its first unit at 2944 Breckenridge Lane costing$66,000. The Second Presbyterian Church dedicated its new $300,000 building and grounds in Rolling Fields the samemonth.Then in May, the St. Matthews Baptist Church dedicated its $150,000 educational building of about 75 rooms.(Also in May Father Charles Boldrick, pastor of Holy Trinity, celebrated his Silver Jubilee. He was ordained July 30,1930.)The First Baptist Church of Middletown broke ground for an $86,000 education building.The Beechwood Baptist Church held first services in its new building at the corner of Biltmore and Cordova Roads. Thebasement was not quite finished when Pastor James B. Sawyer conducted the first service. The 2.5 acre site cost $25,000and the building and equipment come to something like $200,000. There was a basement and two floors, 35 to 40 classrooms,and auditorium seating 510, and an educational building for 525 people. All this for a congregation less than twoyears old.Then St. Matthews Episcopal Church quietly broke ground for its second unit. The church at Hubbards Lane and Massiewas only two years old when construction started on the estimated $100,000 building of 16 new classrooms, several offices,and other rooms. Under rector Wilfred Myrll, the congregation had grown to 500 members.Then to round off the church year, plans were announced in August to organize a new Methodist Church here, in connectionwith the East Broadway Methodist. The new congregation named itself the Indian Hills Methodist Church, and in Octoberbought a seven-acre tract on Brownsboro Road, opposite Blankenbaker Lane.Yes it was a good year for the churches.It was not so good for the schools.In May, County school Superintendent Richard VanHoose made a quiet little speech before the St. Matthews Kiwan’sClub. He said the school in the fast-growing County would very soon be over-crowded, and to avoid this, the property taxrate would have to go up to $1.72 per $100 for 1955-56, to $1.93 for the next year, and to $2.05 for the year following. Therate was $1.50, plus a special 50-cent building tax.